What is a word for a solution that is sufficient but not sophisticated?

Question

I heard this word a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to remember what it was. I've searched through Google and can't seem to find it. I'm sure that the word begins with 'H' and describes a process or solution that may not necessarily be optimized but also doesn't necessarily require it. I.E. crude

The word I am looking for describes a technique that is practical to reaching a short term goal. The context I heard this in related to machine learning and chat bots. For example, if a customer called an insurance company and had an accident, the bot would ask a simple set of questions to determine whether to route the caller to a low or high impact assessment.

Answer 1

Perhaps you are looking for a hack ?

2.1 A piece of computer code providing a quick or inelegant solution to a particular problem.

"this hack doesn't work on machines that have a firewall"

Life hack

: a usually simple and clever tip or technique for accomplishing some familiar task more easily and efficiently

"Life hacks," as they are known, are all about eliminating life's manifold frustrations in simple and deliciously clever ways. The best involve tricks that are free, efficient and stunningly obvious in retrospect, deploying household items (like the humble toilet roll) for purposes beyond their wildest aspirations. —Michael Koziol"

Answer 2

bodge, as per Wikitionary:

Noun: A clumsy or inelegant job, usually a temporary repair; a patch, a repair.

A prime example of this word in use can be seen in this video by Tom Scott.

There's also the word kludge:

A kludge or kluge (/klʌdʒ, kluːdʒ/) is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain.

Answer 3

The answer sprung on me after a few hours.

Heuristic technique, or heuristics.

From Wikipedia:

A heuristic technique, often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method, not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, logical, or rational, but instead sufficient for reaching an immediate goal. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution.

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I understand that the original question wasn’t the exact definition of heuristic, but it is applicable to certain applications of it. For example, availability heuristics, where an individual bases a conclusion on recent events that come to mind.

I’ll use an example I found online. I live in Maine and am planning a trip to Florida during the cold winter months. I’m determining whether or not I want to fly and make my round trip fast and convenient or if I want to drive my car. I recall that last week I read there was a plane clash that killed 50 passengers, so I conclude it’s not safe to fly and I decide to drive.

The former example is both sufficient and unsophisticated. Driving to Florida from Maine will suffice for my trip, but my assumption that it’s safer isn’t sound. Data shows that in 2015 those in the U.S. who drove had a 1 in 114 chance of dying versus 1 in 9,821 for air travel.

Answer 4

I'm not sure this fits with your added example of use, but I would have said "a pragmatic solution".

Pragmatic:

practical as opposed to idealistic

Answer 5

In computing, that would be called a "naive solution" (or the naive solution). In another post, someone describes a naive algorithm as almost exactly what you are describing:

A Naive algorithm is usually the most obvious solution when one is asked a problem. It may not be a smart algorithm but will probably get the job done (...eventually.)

Notably, this phrase doesn't imply that the solution is bad. Just that there may be a more sophisticated solution.

Answer 6

Are you by any chance thinking of ad hoc? It seems to fit your definition of "practical to reaching a short term goal" fairly well.

Ad hoc:

for the particular end or case at hand without consideration of wider application

Answer 7

With the understanding that the desired term has already been found in "heuristic", I'll still venture another H-word for the Googlers out there :)

Honest effort - an effort which is "in good faith" or "showing fairness and sincerity; straightforward; free from deceit." However, while I cannot find any official definition of this, I feel in common usage it has a more complex meaning.

That meaning that I understand for it, is as an unsophisticated good-faith attempt which falls shy of perfection.

"while this first cake is an honest effort, the second cake wins the prize." - this doesn't imply that the first cake is a bad cake, it doesn't say it's a failure, it's just not a best-in-show cake. It's still a tasty, good-looking cake, though.

Quotes I've found include:

It was an honest effort, but the team ended up apologizing, sort of. [Wizards apologize if Black History Month tribute 'missed the mark']

-- Washington Post, Feb 3 2016

It was an honest effort, but a mistake nevertheless. His attempt to handle Rosecrans with gentleness backfired.

-- Halleck: Lincoln's Chief of Staff by Stephen E Ambrose, 1996

The exempt counties are reliably Republican outposts, so currying favour with constituents is a likelier explanation than outright racial animus. “It was an honest effort to recognise that across the state there are variations in the ability to get jobs.[...]"

-- The Economist, May 17 2018

His first mixtape, "The Purple Tape," surfaced in 2012, when he was 18. Looking back, he realizes its limitations. "I thought I was ready, but it was really immature," he says. "I was talking about cool stuff other teenagers were doing. It was very vain. It was an honest effort, and true to everything I was doing at 17, 18. But it's definitely night and day between then and now." -- Joey Purp, Chicago Tribune Aug 8 2018

We were begged not to punish the State of Idaho for a mistake, if it was a mistake, in regard to its own organization; for it is said they made an “honest effort” to comply with the law

-- Congressional Record, 1892

This usage seems to fit both with the "not optimal" current phrasing, and with the "not sophisticated" previous phrasing of this question, tough of course the meaning is far removed and more negative from that of heuristic.

Heuristic typically implies "industry standard rule of thumb"-type competence.

An honest effort instead implies "giving it your best shot and getting close", often with implications of failure-through-inexperience.

Answer 8

"Heuristics" are actually a scientific process but match your description after the "EDIT". A "hack" has the implication of being something not intended in that manner. A "kludge" is something that just happens to work but may fall apart any time and/or looks seriously out of place.

For your description of the term before the first "EDIT", I'd use "expedient" instead. That describes a low-effort convenient solution that isn't actually out of place.

Answer 9

Jugaad (Financial Times, Lexicon)

Jugaad means thinking in a frugal way and being flexible, which, in turn, requires the innovator or entrepreneur to adapt quickly to often unforeseen situations and uncertain circumstances in an intelligent way.

Intelligence in this context "isn’t about seeking sophistication or perfection by over-engineering products, but rather about developing a ‘good-enough’ solution that gets the job done".

Note the wording in the second para.

See also:
jugaad on ODO
Winging it (Cachero et al., BBC Culture)

And not to miss at all (seriously):
Images

Answer 10

Another descriptive adjective would be haphazard (as in a haphazard solution) which MW defines as

marked by lack of plan, order, or direction

Answer 11

Heavy-handed

Clumsy

With the entry for clumsy:

1 a : lacking dexterity, nimbleness, or grace (clumsy fingers)

b : lacking tact or subtlety (a clumsy joke)

2 : awkward or inefficient in use or construction : unwieldy (a clumsy contraption)

Answer 12

Almost every other answer to this question assumes lack of sophistication in a solution to be a negative trait. Therefore, I will offer an alternative:

Elegant (Oxford English Dictionary):

1. Graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.

‘she will look elegant in black’ ‘an elegant, comfortable house’

2. (of a scientific theory or solution to a problem) pleasingly ingenious and simple.

‘the grand unified theory is compact and elegant in mathematical terms’