Projects are full of problems. Some are easy to solve, some tough, and some are way tougher than others. And then there are Wicked Problems. When there are too many variables and too many stakeholders it can be hard to know where to start. A very visible example of such a challenging problem is one faced at Meta (formerly Facebook). The company’s issue may escalate to a crisis if not attended to adequately, especially after several unsuccessful initiatives to address transparency, harm, misinformation, and privacy. Rounds of #DeleteFacebook were trending on social media, signaling a pattern of user dissatisfaction. The company lost users from its platforms for the first time in its 18-year history and missed earnings targets for the first quarter of 2022. News of the earnings miss resulted in a 20% loss in stock value. This presentation will use Meta as a case study for how wicked problems can be approached. The key to solving such problems is to look at them through a systems lens. Systems thinking is so critical that PMI has deemed it one of the 12 project management principles in the Standard for Project Management.
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