A heuristic is a common sense rule intended to increase the probability of solving some problem (WordWeb 2012b). In the present context it may be regarded as an informal or pragmatic principle. Maier and Rechtin (Maier and Rechtin 2000) identified an extensive set of heuristics that are related to systems principles. A few of these heuristics are stated here.
Relationships among the elements are what give systems their added value. This is related to the ‘’Interaction’’ principle.
Efficiency is inversely proportional to universality. This is related to the ‘’Leverage’’ principle.
The first line of defense against complexity is simplicity of design. This is related to the ‘’Parsimony’’ principle.
In order to understand anything, you must not try to understand everything (attributed to Aristotle). This is related to the ‘’Abstraction’’ principle.