The Migration from Algorithmic to HeuristicIn his excellent book, Drive, Dan Pink distinguishes between algorithmic tasks and heuristictasks.
With an algorithmic task, there is a recipe that you can follow to attain the goal.Employers can continually improve the step-by-step procedures in an algorithmic task, and
following the formula will allow the employee to meet the objective. A checklist can help ensure
that an individual effectively executes an algorithmic task. 4Heuristic tasks have no set steps and require individuals to experiment in order to solve
problems
Examples include setting corporate strategy, developing a new advertising campaign, or coaching
a team. Crafting incentives is inherently more challenging for heuristic tasks because cause and
effect are difficult to link.
Almost all jobs combine algorithmic and heuristic elements and the process of creating value
requires each. But it is important to acknowledge that over the generations the economy has
shifted from a reliance on algorithmic tasks to heuristic tasks.
and you might picture a large steel mill. Such a mill would have lots of employees following
instructions
Devising the procedures and implementing them were both important,
but manpower was disproportionately allocated toward algorithmic tasks.
Today, a research and development lab is a fitting picture of industry. Scientists, for instance,
may be working on developing a drug to cure an illness. If the R&D pays off and the recipe for the
new drug is ready to go, manufacturing the product is relatively straightforward and inexpensive.
Again, algorithmic and heuristic tasks each contribute to value creation, but the emphasis is on
the heuristic tasks.
Research by McKinsey, a consulting firm, shows that over 40 percent of employees in the U.S.
today have jobs based primarily on heuristic tasks, and that 70 percent of the new jobs in recent
years are heuristic. Further, the average wage for an employee doing heuristic tasks is one and
one-half times the wage of a worker dedicated to algorithmic tasks.
heuristic activities appear to be the main drivers of value creation. 5 Imagine industry a century ago—transporting ore, feeding furnaces, shaping steel—and only a handful working on crafting new instructions. 6 Employees engaged in7Here’s the problem in a nutshell: our mix of jobs has changed profoundly while our approach to
incentives has not. As a consequence, we have employees who have lost motivation and faulty
incentive programs that have introduced a raft of unintended consequences.
From, Blaming the Rat, Michael J. Mauboussin
PS if someone tell's you what and how to do it probably it's going to be a low paying job.. Tasks in environments that are evolving and that require novelty are heuristic.
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