TRIZ is an acronym formed from the Russian words Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch. Its starting point is to draw on the ways past inventions solved problems when approaching new ones.
What Is TRIZ?
TRIZ is known in English as the “Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems,” and in Turkish as the “Theory of Invention-Based Problem Solving” or the “Theory of Creative Problem Solving.” Universities, companies, and R&D centers use it to tackle difficult problems, speed up the search for solutions, and develop creative thinking skills. Other uses include finding alternatives that avoid competitors’ patents, obtaining new patents, and making innovation systematic. Samsun, Siemens, Ford, and Intel are among the companies said to use this approach.
Learning innovation and creativity
An internationally recognized model can help develop creativity within an organization. We can look at approaches to creative thinking through two schools of thought. They differ in how people draw on their knowledge and experience, and how their thinking is guided.
1. The First School of Thought: Techniques such as brainstorming, De Bono’s lateral thinking, Six Thinking Hats, and root cause analysis create an environment where people can develop different ideas. This can also be called unprogrammed creative thinking. A new invention or design grows out of what a person knows and has experienced. Approaches such as FMEA, fishbone diagrams, and 5W1H are also used to stimulate thinking.
2. The Second School of Thought: In this approach, known as programmed thinking, people use proven scientific thinking tools to develop new solutions. TRIZ belongs to this school. It uses methods drawn from earlier inventions to seek solutions without “reinventing the wheel.”
Genrikh Saulovich Altshuller began developing TRIZ in 1946 in the Soviet Union (now the Russian Federation). He sought to strengthen Russia’s international competitiveness by introducing a different approach to problem-solving processes that lead to inventions. He believed engineers could solve technical problems faster with suitable tools, making innovation more systematic.
Figure 1 shows the foundations on which TRIZ is built.
Two fundamental theories inform TRIZ methods and tools: dialectics and systems theory. Dialectics considers development in nature, society, and thought through oppositions. Reaching a synthesis through the discussion of thesis and antithesis lies at the heart of this way of thinking.
TRIZ gives individuals and teams access to approaches that have succeeded before. The search for a solution can then proceed from methods that have worked in the past. A systems approach also requires examining the problem’s boundaries, its subsystems, and its relationship to the supersystem.
Within this framework, patent information is used alongside scientific and technological data. Holding on to familiar ways of thinking, or psychological inertia, can make alternative solutions harder to see. TRIZ tools are intended to help people move past these biases and choose among possible solutions.
One of TRIZ’s central claims is that it can raise an individual’s level of creativity. Creativity here means being able to look at problems from different perspectives and put forward original solutions that have not been tried before. Figure 2 shows the change in an individual’s creative ability as a function of age.
According to the age curve described in the text, creative ability peaks between ages 14-20, reaches a plateau above age 30, and declines later in life. According to Zlotin, who played an important part in my appreciation of TRIZ, creativity can even fall below zero in one’s twenties, around the years when people finish university. This view suggests that university education can negatively affect imagination and creativity.
These observations point to a need for approaches that develop creativity in professional life. Altshuller, too, believed that the TRIZ philosophy, grounded in the laws of dialectics, would stimulate creativity. The text mentions studies supporting this view, but gives no details about them. Figure 3 illustrates this schematically.
TRIZ Philosophy and Tools
Opposing properties can coexist within a system. Their interaction may reveal a contradiction that holds back the system’s development. One example is improving one property of a technical system while worsening another. Resolving the contradiction takes the system to a new level of development. Other contradictions may emerge over time, and the search for solutions continues. TRIZ is built on the idea of eliminating these contradictions within systems.
Three types of contradictions in TRIZ-assisted problem solving
-
Administrative
-
Technical
-
Physical contradictions.
Working with TRIZ begins with identifying contradictions in the system, then looking for ways to resolve them. The examination extends beyond individual components to their dependencies, actions, and effects. This makes it possible to see how a change in one component relates to the system as a whole.
Creativity, particularly inventive creativity, is a complex process. This is one reason TRIZ consistently uses a systems approach. Examining systems helps reveal similar structures and relationships across different fields. Isomorphic properties, or properties that share the same structure, can be investigated this way, along with analogies, similar outcomes, and laws.
TRIZ structures patent information about inventions into specific patterns, classifies it for searching, and brings it together. This body of knowledge is used to assess the level of creativity in inventions, list inventive principles, and investigate problem-solving methods. Identifying the laws that describe how technical systems develop is also part of this research.
TRIZ is built on the analysis of more than 1.5 million patents and inventions across technological fields. In examining this knowledge, it also considers similarities in how those fields develop. Similarities between development in biology and in other scientific and technological fields are considered within this framework, too.
TRIZ recognizes that individual and collective ways of thinking have developed over time and can therefore change. It seeks to transform familiar patterns of thought into a way of thinking that takes the laws of systems development into account.
Figure 4 shows how the TRIZ methodology works.
We can consider the methodology in 4 steps. In step 1, the details of the technical system are examined and the problem definition is clarified. The eight (8) fundamental laws of TRIZ are used here to understand how systems develop and form the foundation of the method. There are currently eight (8) laws in this framework, though their number may increase in the future.
First Law: Evolution Toward Increased Ideality
System ideality is expressed as the ratio of beneficial effects to harmful effects. According to this law, systems develop toward greater ideality over time. The goal is to approach the ideal final result by increasing the ratio of beneficial to harmful effects. Reducing and eliminating harmful functions therefore matters.
Second Law: Stages of Technological Evolution
The second law considers the stages of technological development through the S-curve. This curve is used to track the development and maturity of system performance over time. Figure 5 shows a typical S-curve.
The performance gains a technology provides slow over time. For development to continue, the obstacles causing that slowdown need to be addressed.
Third Law: Uneven Development of System Elements
According to the third law, each system component has its own S-curve. Components do not develop at the same rate and reach their natural limits at different times. Some may hold back the progress of the whole system. The contradictions and constraints this creates become the focus of the search for solutions.
Fourth Law: Evolution Toward Increased Dynamism and Controllability
The fourth law describes the tendency of systems to become more flexible and dynamic over time. As this happens, the system also becomes easier to monitor and control.
Fifth Law: Increasing Complexity Followed by Simplification
According to the fifth law, systems first become more complex, then evolve into simpler structures that perform the same functions or more.
Sixth Law: Evolution Through Matching and Mismatching Elements
The sixth law concerns the compatibility of elements within evolving systems. Identifying matching and mismatching elements helps improve performance or compensate for unwanted effects.
Seventh Law: Evolution Toward the Micro Level and Increased Use of Fields
The seventh law points to the tendency of technological systems to move from the macro to the micro level. In this transition, different energy fields are used to improve performance and controllability.
Eighth Law: Evolution Toward Reduced Human Involvement
The final law concerns the gradual reduction of human involvement in the operation of systems. AI and microrobots can be seen as developments consistent with this tendency.
TRIZ tools to use after modeling the problem
1. Ideality and Resource Analysis
2. Functional Analysis
3. Contradiction Analysis
a. Technical Contradictions
b. Physical Contradictions
4. 39x39 Contradiction Matrix Analysis
5. 40 Inventive Principles
6. 9 Windows Approach
7. S-Curve Analysis
8. Su-F Analysis
9. 76 Inventive Standards
10. Trends of Technological Development
11. System Operators
12. Guide to Scientific Effects
13. ARIZ Algorithm
How do some TRIZ tools work?
Su-F Analysis, also known as Substance-Field Analysis (Vepol Analysis in Russian), is used in TRIZ to distinguish known, or standard, problems from nonstandard ones. A standard problem has a specific meaning within the TRIZ classification. If a problem fits this classification, the standard rules in the knowledge repository can be consulted for a solution. TRIZ has a problem-solving system with 76 standard rules for this purpose.
Working with TRIZ means applying operators, principles, scientific effects, and experience drawn from patents to new problems. Knowledge gained from solving earlier problems becomes a resource for someone facing a new one.
The Guide to Scientific Effects is a knowledge base that brings together scientific effects that can be used in inventions. This TRIZ repository includes 50 geometric, more than 100 chemical, more than 300 physical, and many biological effects.
Another TRIZ knowledge repository contains methods for resolving technical and physical contradictions. This framework includes 39 Technical Contradictions, 40 Basic Principles, and 4 Physical Separation Principles.
When standard TRIZ tools are insufficient, ARIZ (the Algorithm for Inventive Problem Solving) can be used. ARIZ is a directed and planned problem-solving program that organizes the search for a solution into logical steps. Because it is designed for people to use, its steps account for psychology and imagination as well as the laws governing the development of technical systems.
TRIZ is used to improve existing products, reduce costs, and develop processes. It is also used in management, economics, research, science, disaster forecasting, failure prediction, and education. This includes the education of children and university students. In these fields, it is a tool for creative thinking and engineering value analysis.
The ways TRIZ tools generate ideas can be divided into two groups: analytical and synthetic thinking processes.
Four fundamental TRIZ approaches that support analytical thinking
- Modeling: Building models for problem solving by focusing on the functions of objects and systems (Functional Analysis).
- Systems Approach: Examining the problem’s context to identify relationships between the system, its subsystems, and its supersystem (Root Cause Analysis).
- Psychological Methods: Focusing on human perception to move beyond biases and familiar patterns of thought (Overcoming Prejudices).
- Levels of Invention: Assessing inventions according to patent levels (Determining the Patent’s Level of Invention).
Four fundamental TRIZ approaches that support synthetic thinking
- Contradiction: Revealing oppositions by focusing on obstacles to a solution (39 Contradictions Analysis).
- Laws of Systems Evolution: Examining trends in technological change (8 Fundamental Laws of Evolution).
- Resources: Identifying resources that make the desired changes possible (Resource Analysis).
- Ideality: Examining the system’s useful and harmful functions to achieve the desired result (Law of Ideality).
TRIZ and new models of thinking
While developed countries such as Germany and the United States discuss “Industry 4.0” and “Education 4.0,” Japan is exploring “Society 5.0.”
Society 5.0 considers the social effects of digitalization from economic, ethical, and educational perspectives. It defines the interaction between people and technology through a “super-smart society” model. How smart systems can contribute to society’s quality of life and education is also part of this approach.
Discussions of these approaches emphasize the importance of education if the new generation of 4.0 and 5.0 thinking is to last. I also believe that building a creative society requires us to reconsider familiar models of thinking. I see TRIZ as one approach we can draw on in that search.
To begin putting it into practice, we can define the problem in a single sentence and write down which type of contradiction it belongs to. Next, we list the system’s beneficial and harmful effects through ideality and resource analysis. We can try suitable tools in a small application and add the resulting solution to the organization’s body of knowledge.
