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In 2005, McKinsey & Co. made a big splash with the concept of tacit interactions, processes that can't be automated in a step-by-step manner. Examples include negotiating a deal, managing staff, writing a blog, providing great customer service and selling a product.

Tacit interactions are carried out by knowledge workers who assemble information from a variety of sources and perform tasks that may be done differently each time. Tacit interactions involve improvisation, taking action and moving forward based on what you find out.

The inputs and end state of a tacit interaction may be well defined, and it may be surrounded by documented processes. For example, the hiring process often starts with a job description that may go through a step-by-step process to gain approval to hire. But once résumés start coming in, the tacit interaction begins as the hiring team evaluates qualifications, performs interviews, checks references; and the process ebbs and flows based on many factors.

This week the JargonSpy looks at techniques and technologies to support the collaboration and analysis needed for tacit interactions. These techniques and technologies add just enough structure to amplify productivity without strangling the ad hoc nature of complicated tasks.

McKinsey estimated that as of 2000, about 44% of workers focused on transactional interactions (step-by-step processes) while about 15% focused on transformational activities that change something in the physical world. Tacit interactions stood at 41% but are on the rise, accounting for 70% of newly created jobs. Industries dominated by tacit interactions have a much larger spread between top performers and laggards, which suggests a big payoff for performing them well.

An important category of tacit interactions relates to handling exceptions. Ross Mayfield, founder of the software start-up Socialtext, points out that e-mail about exceptions makes up a large proportion of corporate inboxes. Mayfield's view is that transactional work involves process, or how work is supposed to get done, while tacit work in handling exceptions deals with practice, or how work really gets done. A growing body of research suggests that advantage accrues to companies that effectively learn from exceptions.

But how do you do a better job? Three approaches seem to be promising for different reasons.

The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don't-ask-don't-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the U.S. drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.

The officials described the deal as one in which the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan's government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes.

The arrangement coincided with a suspension of ground assaults into Pakistan by helicopter-borne U.S. commandos. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview last week that he was aware of no ground attacks since one on Sept. 3 that his government vigorously protested.

Officials described the attacks, using new technology and improved intelligence, as a significant improvement in the fight against Pakistan-based al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. Officials confirmed the deaths of at least three senior al-Qaeda figures in strikes last month.

Zardari said that he receives "no prior notice" of the airstrikes and that he disapproves of them. But he said he gives the Americans "the benefit of the doubt" that their intention is to target the Afghan side of the ill-defined, mountainous border of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even if that is not where the missiles land.

Civilian deaths remain a problem, Zardari said. "If the damage is women and children, then the sensitivity of its effect increases," he said. The U.S. "point of view," he said, is that the attacks are "good for everybody. Our point of view is that it is not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people."

A senior Pakistani official said that although the attacks contribute to widespread public anger in Pakistan, anti-Americanism there is closely associated with President Bush. Citing a potentially more favorable popular view of President-elect Barack Obama, he said that "maybe with a new administration, public opinion will be more pro-American and we can start acknowledging" more cooperation.

The official, one of several who discussed the sensitive military and intelligence relationship only on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S-Pakistani understanding over the airstrikes is "the smart middle way for the moment." Contrasting Zardari with his predecessor, retired Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the official said Musharraf "gave lip service but not effective support" to the Americans. "This government is delivering but not taking the credit."

From December to August, when Musharraf stepped down, there were six U.S. Predator attacks in Pakistan. Since then, there have been at least 19. The most recent occurred early Friday, when local officials and witnesses said at least 11 people, including six foreign fighters, were killed. The attack, in North Waziristan, one of the seven FATA regions, demolished a compound owned by Amir Gul, a Taliban commander said to have ties to al-Qaeda.

Pakistan's self-praise is not entirely echoed by U.S. officials, who remain suspicious of ties between Pakistan's intelligence service and FATA-based extremists. But the Bush administration has muted its criticism of Pakistan. In a speech to the Atlantic Council last week, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden effusively praised Pakistan's recent military operations, including "tough fighting against hardened militants" in the northern FATA region of Bajaur.

"Throughout the FATA," Hayden said, "al-Qaeda and its allies are feeling less secure today than they did two, three or six months ago. It has become difficult for them to ignore significant losses in their ranks." Hayden acknowledged, however, that al-Qaeda remains a "determined, adaptive enemy," operating from a "safe haven" in the tribal areas.

Along with the stepped-up Predator attacks, Bush administration strategy includes showering Pakistan's new leaders with close, personal attention. Zardari met with Bush during the U.N. General Assembly in September, and senior military and intelligence officials have exchanged near-constant visits over the past few months.