Algorithmic Thinking
Algorithmic thinking breaks a task into explicit steps, conditions, and a stopping point. It helps you carry out a repeatable process, inspect where it fails, and revise the procedure when its assumptions no longer fit.
THE IDEA
Explicit Steps
An algorithm specifies a procedure for a task. Algorithmic thinking asks what information you start with, which operations you perform, how conditions change the next step, and when you stop.
Alan Turing’s work on computation and his contribution to Enigma codebreaking illustrate the power of formal procedures. Codebreaking was a collaborative effort; breaking a complex task into operations is not a claim that one person solved it alone.
Using the Model
Choose a recurring problem and write down its steps precisely enough for someone else to follow. Include branches for different cases and a way to recognize an incomplete or invalid result. Try the procedure on examples, inspect failures, and revise it.
Some algorithms update a model from data, while others follow fixed rules. Neither form guarantees a good decision if the inputs, objective, or assumptions are wrong.
When to use it
Writing a checklist with explicit branches for a recurring administrative task.
Using a simulation to compare the consequences of specified choices and assumptions.
Processing a dataset through documented cleaning and analysis steps so another person can reproduce the result.
Using a decision tree for routine choices and identifying exceptions that need judgment.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Turing’s Codebreaking
During WWII, Turing contributed to the collaborative effort to read Enigma messages. Formalizing parts of the search into repeatable operations made it possible to test candidate settings systematically.
Checking an Expense Claim
An expense procedure checks whether a receipt is present, compares the amount with the permitted limit, and routes exceptions for review. Writing out the branches makes omissions easier to find and the process easier to repeat.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
How might you break down a recurring personal challenge into a series of algorithmic steps?
In what situations do you rely on intuition rather than systematic rules, and could algorithmic thinking improve the outcome?
How can you integrate adaptive learning (like AI) into your own mental model to refine decisions over time?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- The Great Mental Models Volume 3 Systems and Mathematics