Skip to main content

Satisficing

A term from Herbert Simon's bounded rationality work describing the choice of the first option that meets a reasonable threshold of adequacy given real constraints on time and information, rather than searching exhaustively for an optimal choice. The estate triage memo is a satisficing tool: it produces a good-enough first read fast, rather than an optimal analysis slowly.

Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 2 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in AI Data Governance: The Data Chair.

How each discipline defines it

The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.

AI Data Governance: The Data Chair

A term from Herbert Simon's bounded rationality work describing the choice of the first option that meets a reasonable threshold of adequacy given real constraints on time and information, rather than searching exhaustively for an optimal choice. The estate triage memo is a satisficing tool: it produces a good-enough first read fast, rather than an optimal analysis slowly.

Engineering Judgment and Professional Formation

A decision strategy, from Herbert Simon's work on bounded rationality, that seeks an option clearing an acceptable bar across every constraint that matters, without further optimizing any single constraint past the point of diminishing return. The recommended default strategy for most engineering decisions under real, multi-constraint limits.

Where it is taught

The exact lessons this term appears in. The first 7 topics of every program are free with a free account.

Terms it appears with

Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.