Jul 1
How do the tools of TRIZ work together?
I’ve recently pulled together a diagram showing how the tools of TRIZ relate to each other and I thought it was worth sharing for feedback.
 
Key elements of the diagram are:
The problem to be analysed. Shown in the centre of the diagram
Ideality. Shown surrounding the problem but not directly able to be applied to the problem. Ideality is this case is defined by the ratio of useful functions over harmful functions and costs. With time, the useful functions should, in general, increase and the harmful functions and costs should decrease.
Laws of evolution of technical systems. Once again these are shown surrounding the problem rather than directly acting upon the problem. These are related to how systems develop with time and generally link to the overarching Ideality trend. The law of technological system evolution are:
- Law of Increasing Degree of Ideality;
- Law of Non-Uniform Evolution of Sub-Systems;
- Law of Transition to a Higher-Level System;
- Law of Increasing Flexibility of Systems;
- Law of Transition from Macro- to Micro-Level;
- Law of Shortening of Energy Flow Path;
- Law of Harmonization;
- Law of Completeness;
- Law of Increasing Controllability
More about these in future posts.
Now onto some tools which can be applied directly to the problem:
The first one is Techniques to overcome Contradictions. In TRIZ terms, a contradiction is a situation where one aspect of a system gets better and causes another aspect to get worse. Think about fuel consumption vs acceleration for an automobile as an example. Usually there is an unhappy compromise – known to engineers the world round as a “trade-off”. There are a number of techniques to address contradictions. More on this another time.
The second one is Standard Methods. In TRIZ there are 76 standards – a standard is a TRIZ world problem with a recommended TRIZ world solution. If you can identify which TRIZ world problem your rea world problem relates to, you can identify a TRIZ world solution. The only remaining tricky bit is translating that back into the real world. More on these in a later post.
The third one is Knowledge base of effects. In TRIZ something like 2,500 physical, chemical and geometric effects have been catalogued and can be searched. Invention Machine software is especially good for this, although boy is it pricey. I was quoted £28K for one seat! No way Jose! What a rip-off. IWINT a new software package is likely to be almost as good and a lot cheaper. It certainly looked good at TRIZCON where I saw a demo. Don’t get me started on Invention Machine pricing policy…
Oh yes, I got a bit distracted there. The forth and last one is ARIZ. This is basically a step by step algorithm which helps you to deploy all the tools of TRIZ in concert. ARIZ enable you to view the problem from a number of different perspectives, each of which can give you a fresh insight into the true nature of your problem situation. There are a number of competing algorithms. My personal favorite is Victor Fey’s algorithm in his book Innovation on Demand. It really works! If you get stuck with it just leave a comment on this post and I’d be happy to help out.
I’ve attached an animated powerpoint of the diagram for download tools-of-triz
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Hi, John:
I think many visitors of your site would greatly appreciate it if you could publish ARIZ analysis of some of the problems that you have solved during your tenure at Mars. I certainly would.
Hi Andrei,
great idea. I think I’ll publish my first ARIZ analysis – the one that proved to me that TRIZ really works!
Looking forward to it.
Small disagreement about ideality not acting directly on the problem–I find that getting beginners focused on ideality can frequently be easier than getting them into the function analysis (which is part of ARIZ OR part of preparing to use the 76 Standards, in your model). Example from this week–the big “ah-ha” in a group of engine designers who were saying that the engine needs hot lubricant. Discussion of ideality got them to hot lubricant = one way of getting low viscosity lubricant. BUT lubricant is a “band-aid”–what they really need is materials that don’t interfere with each other, and don’t need lubricant to make the interfering surfaces not wear.
I tell beginner TRIZ students that ideality is the scariest tool of TRIZ, because it tells them that they are going to go out of business. They like the challenge more than my previous way of teaching the topic, which was more focused on the definitions and mechanisms. “Ideality gives you the benefit without cost and harm,” is the classical definition, and “The ideal system takes care of itself” is a more casual definition, but I agree that both need work and interpretation to ACT on the problem.
When you are ready to work on the 76 Standards, John Terninko, Joe Miller and I published an English version with examples in the TRIZ Journal in 2001. Time for an update–let me know if you want to use it. Also, we tried to work on an ARIZ book, and found that all the examples we tried were either too easy (could be solved with less formal TRIZ methods, did not require the full structure of ARIZ) or too specific to a particular technology, so would not be good subjects for a book for general TRIZ readers. I’ll look forward to seeing your examples.
Ellen Domb
Hi Ellen, thanks for your comments. I guess use of ideality as a tool vs. a concept is a moot point. Maybe what I should have said is that it is less directly connected to the problem situation. As a concept, I agree it (and the laws and lines of evolution) can still help inventive thinking a lot, but I think it doesn’t offer you the same systematic toe-hold that the other arrowy parts of my diagram are attempting to show. I’ve been working with the diagram for some time because I wanted to capture and explain how the tools can work together. It’s the best I’ve managed so far and I’m keen to improve it. Any suggestions?