A heuristic is a simplifying strategy: use a few useful cues, search only part of the information, or stop when an option meets an adequate threshold. For example, checking whether a room meets capacity and access requirements can narrow a long list quickly.

A shortcut can save work, but its value depends on the task, available information and the cost of being wrong. It is not defined by always succeeding. A detailed analysis can also fail if it starts from bad data or uses the wrong comparison.