anintroductiontotriz

There are many design and development methodologies like Relevance trees, Decision seminary, Delphi, sheet of creative tasks, mapping and QFD etc but most of them talk about “what to solve?” not “how to solve?”. Whenever a problem is related with constraints, problem solvers tend to find a compromise or trade-off to reach an acceptable solution. In most of such scenarios, technical knowledge not only helps in solving the problem but on the contrary hinders as well. This paradox is a hindrance for reaching best solution. The hindrance created by the knowledge is known as psychological inertia.

TRIZ is powerful toolset for enhancing ability of an organization in resolving, seemingly tough, and un-solvable problems. It is an innovative methodology and problem solving toolset to help in reaching better and cost-effective solution faster. TRIZ is a Russian acronym which when translated in English means – The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. It is distilled theory from world patent database, which is a result of rigorous study of nearly two million patents, spanning over decades.

Some of the advantages of this inventive problem solving methodology are that it is

• 1. an algorithmic, step-by-step procedure

  2. a guide through a broad solution space to direct to the ideal solution

  3. repeatable and reliable and not dependent on psychological tools

  4. access to the body of inventive knowledge

  5. add to the body of inventive knowledge

1. independent of psychological tools

The steps involved in TRIZ problem solving can be summarized as –

• 1. In TRIZ a specific problem is identified.

  2. This specific problem is then converted to an abstract problem.

  3. Then a group of best solutions in all fields for similar abstract problem is derived from the body of abstract knowledge.

1. Then these abstract solutions are converted to the specific solutions.

TRIZ helps in solving problems with a new insight of looking at problems, with knowledge beyond perception of an individual mind yet simple and elegant.

What does a Vice President of Innovation and Design has to say about TRIZ –

“The bottom line is that every person in an organization can benefit from learning the basics of TRIZ – and that every corporation has room for improvement when it comes to developing a more structured approach to innovation. Consider the importance of innovation… In this day and age, it is critical that the ability to innovate become a core competency – not a finite resource that behaves unpredictably.”