Problem-solving methodology widely known as TRIZ in English.

''An ideal solution of an engineering problem is when '''desired function is implemented and there is no device implementing it.'''''

Originally "Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadach" (TRIZ, pronounced treez) is Russian for "theory of inventive problem solving". Although almost unheard of in the west, it seems to be widely respected in the former Soviet Union, being used widely in military and space programmes.

TRIZ began with a letter by a Lieutenant Genrich Altshuller of the Soviet Navy to Stalin in 1948, for which Altshuller was sentenced to 25 years in the Siberian Gulag for "inventor's sabotage". After Stalin's death, Altshuller was released, and the first paper on TRIZ was published in 1956.

Altshuller, in analysing two million patents, concluded that all inventions involved the resolution of contradictions through 40 (and only 40) inventive principles. These inventive principles are listed at http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/1997/07/b/index.html. By abstracting your specific problem to a more generic one, and recognizing the contradictions involved, you can use the contradiction matrix at http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/1997/07/matrix.xls to identify which inventive principles are most likely to resolve the contradiction. An example of this process is at http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/1997/07/a/index.html.

* Learn more:
** Altshuller Institute - http://www.aitriz.org/
** TRIZ Journal - http://triz-journal.com/
** CreaTRIZ - http://www.creatriz.net/
** Oxford Creativity - http://www.triz.co.uk/

''Contributors''
* DaveMcLaughlin
* AlexeyVerkhovsky

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CategoryCreativity