Sometimes, the best decision is the one that is merely good enough.

That's the thinking behind "satisficing," a concept that was introduced by Herbert A. Simon, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and cognitive psychologist (who also co-programmed Logic Theorist, the first artificial intelligence program).

Although Simon pioneered this decision-making framework in his 1947 book Administrative Behavior, it wasn’t until 1956 that he coined the phrase "satisfice," which is a combination of the words satisfy and suffice. The term has grown in usage almost every year since it was first published.

Satisficing Definitions

To satisfice is to:

• "Accept an available option as satisfactory," according to Oxford;

• "To pursue the minimum satisfactory condition or outcome," according to Merriam-Webster;

• "To be satisfied with a minimum or merely satisfactory level of performance, profitability, etc. rather than a maximum or optimum level," according to Collins.

In a more colloquial sense, Mary McCoy describes a satisficer as "the opposite of a perfectionist." 

There are no synomyms for the word satisfice, however, "maximizing" and "optimizing" are used as antonyms of satisficing, especially within the context of leadership, management and business.

Examples of Satisficing

Satisficing is often presented as a philosophy of choice that can result in subjective benefits like increased happiness or life satisfaction. However, satisficing can also have clear, objective benefits:

• Investment - In the long run, most "stock pickers" and professional money managers don't beat the stock market. That's because the time and energy of trying to do so (in addition to the subsequent taxes and fees) negates whatever excess gains are generated. On the other hand, those who invest in a broad stock market index fund (i.e. one that essentially owns the entire stock market) are freed from making ongoing investment decisions, yet positioned to reap the majority of the stock market's gains.

• Hiring - Cost of Vacancy (COV) is a way to measure the potential earnings that a company sacrifices by leaving an open position unfilled. In the end, the hunt for "the perfect employee" may cost a company more money than if a competent employee was promptly hired.

• Shopping - If a nearby gas station is selling gas for $2.00 per gallon, yet a neighboring gas station that is 10 miles away is selling gas for $1.95 per gallon, some drivers will save both time and money by purchasing the gas that is "more expensive." 

The Value of Time

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” ― Seneca

I think of myself as a satisficer, but not necessarily in the ways that the term is defined above. (Perfectionism is sometimes admirable, other times harmful.) To me, a satisficer is someone who minimizes analysis of acceptable or unknowable risks, thereby maximizing his or her own free time.