CONCEPT
Successive Limited Comparisons
Lindblom's technical name for the method muddling through practices: comparing a limited number of alternatives, each differing incrementally from the status quo, evaluated against their marginal differences rather than against a comprehensive value framework.
Successive limited comparisons is the analytical engine of the branch method. Where the root method would enumerate all possible alternatives and evaluate each against all possible values, successive limited comparisons proceeds differently: limit the comparison to two to five alternatives that differ incrementally from the current situation, evaluate them only on the dimensions where they differ, choose the one whose consequences are most acceptable, and repeat. The method is successive because each comparison produces information that informs the next one. It is limited because no single comparison attempts to be comprehensive. And it is comparative because alternatives are evaluated against each other, not against an abstract ideal.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The power of the method derives from its constraints. By limiting the number of alternatives, the analyst can examine each in serious detail. By limiting the dimensions of evaluation to those where alternatives differ, the analyst conserves cognitive resources for the comparisons that