2.1 Idealized Design Setup

Russell Ackoff states that you cannot simply predict the future, you must design it. When determining what the "Ends" (the target outcomes) of our socioeconomic system should be, we must rely on a rigorous intellectual process known as Idealized Design.

In this process, the planners assume that the organization (or system) being planned for was completely destroyed last night, but its environment remains exactly as it was.

Then, they try to design that organization with which they would replace the existing organization right now, if they were free to replace it with any organization they wanted—subject to incredibly strict constraints.

The design produced should be the best "ideal-seeking" system of which its designers can currently conceive. It is not utopian; it is subject to continuous improvement because we recognize we may conceive of a better one later.