devices, lenses, and/or tools that aid understanding by indicating or pointing out aspects or characteristics of the world

"A heuristic is a particular method of directing your attention to find something" (The Heuristic Wiki)

"Heuristics is epistemology brought down to earth" (Ulrich 1994: 41).

Ulrich (1994, 2005, online) distinguishes "heuristic procedures" and "deductive (algorithmic) procedures" - the former suitable for 'soft' situations; uses heuristics (i.e. not heuristic) as a methodology of sorts...

Definitions on wikipedia emphasize distinctions among application in different disciplines, including psychology (= hard-coded cognitive rules for decision-making), philosophy (= entity to enable understanding, e.g. a model), and computer science (= tecnique for solving (difficult) problems that ignores correctness of solution).  I use the philosophical definition. (Now there's a surprise!)  Also not surprising, but interesting - there is a link, through short discussion on "model" to 'the map is not the territory'... (which, again interestingly but for different reasons, has no mention of DandG)

The Heuristic Wiki talks about "search spaces" as the restricted domain in which you look; similar to the importance that Ulrich places on boundaries (and boundary judgments and boundary critique).  Spun this way, it directs attention to my interest in boundarylessness, suggesting that my whole schtick is about questioning and expanding the search space, pushing beyond the conventional limits, opening the boundaries.  My title could be renamed - sympoiesis: an heuristic [to facilitate]for sustaining praxis... [although this seems to sound too singular, too focused on the heuristic itself as the central consideration/contribution (but perhaps it is!)]

The heuristics I develop are intended to stretch thinking.  They are not only about pushing boundaries of the system conceptualized or viewed, but also about pushing boundaries of the fact and art of conceptualization itself.