Steve Blank: ‘Lean’ Meets ‘Wicked’ Problems by: Steve Blank on July 17, 2023 | 2,226 Views July 17, 2023 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Steve Blank at UC-Berkeley Haas. File photo THE RESULTS To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We pushed the students way past what they have done in other classes. In spite of what we said in the info session and syllabus, many students were in shock when they realized that they couldn’t take the class by just showing up, and heard in no uncertain terms that no stakeholder/customer interviews in week 1 was unacceptable. Yet, everyone got the message pretty quickly. The team working on the Mapuche conflict in the Araucania region of Chile, flew to Chile from London, interviewed multiple stakeholders and were back in time for next week’s class. The team working to turn the Basque Country in Spain into an AI hub did the same — they flew to Bilbao and interviewed several stakeholders. The team working on the Green Hydrogen got connected to the Rotterdam ecosystem and key stakeholders in the Port, energy incumbents, VCs and Tech Universities. The team working on Ukraine did not fly there for obvious reasons. The rest of the teams spread out across the UK — all of them furiously mapping stakeholders, assumptions, systems, etc., while proposing minimal viable solutions. By the end of the class it was a whirlwind of activity as students not only presented their progress but saw that of their peers. No one wanted to be left behind. They all moved with speed and alacrity. LESSONS LEARNED Our conclusion? While this class is not a substitute for a years-long deep analysis of wicked/complex problems, it gave students a practical, hands-on introduction to tools to map, sense, understand and potentially solve wicked problems It also gave them the confidence and tools to stop admiring problems and work on solving them. I think we’ll teach it again. TEAM FINAL PRESENTATIONS The team’s final lessons learned presentations were pretty extraordinary, only matched by their post-class comments. Take a look below. Team Wicked Araucania Team Accelerate Basque Team Green Hydrogen Team Into The Blue Team Information Pollution Team Ukraine Team Wicked Space Team Future Proof the Navy Entrepreneur-turned-educator Steve Blank is an adjunct professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship. Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate. Read his blog here. DON’T MISS STEVE BLANK: THE CLASS THAT CHANGED HOW ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS TAUGHT Previous PagePage 3 of 3 1 2 3