|
You've got questions, we've got answers. If your question about TRIZ is not answered below, email us . We'll get back to you as quickly as we can.
1. What is TRIZ?
TRIZ is the Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. TRIZ originated in Russia more than 50 years ago and is a well-established system of tools for problem solving, failure analysis and prevention, and idea generation.
TRIZ was started by Genrich Alsthuller (1926-1998) and is based on the analysis of thousands of patents and successful technical solutions. This analysis has identified that:
- Technical systems are modelled on the evolution of the laws of nature.
- Models and tendencies can be used to develop and improve systems.
TRIZ is the only problem solving toolkit with processes which are powerful for most problem types. Most engineers face many different problems including inventing, improving, designing, evolving next-generation systems, measurement and fix/mend problems – TRIZ has tools for all of these.
2. What's the best way of getting started with TRIZ?
There is no better way to get started with TRIZ than to use it. If you know very little about TRIZ, come to one of our one-day workshops.
3. How does TRIZ stack up to the host of other creativity methods out there?
What most creativity methods are designed to do is to free your thinking and use your brain to its full extent.
What is different about TRIZ is that it doesn’t just rely on your brain, experience and education. TRIZ shows you how to access the whole world’s knowledge. Most problems aren’t unique: what TRIZ does is show you how similar problems to yours have been solved before, so you can apply these proven solutions to your situation. In this way TRIZ leads you to innovative solutions that are low risk.
Back to top
4. TRIZ: Hype?
Not much - TRIZ is powerful and rigorous and it works.
5. Tell me about the scenarios TRIZ can help me with
- Solving all problem types
- Inventing (understanding requirements and finding systems to deliver them)
- Improving systems
- Developing new products and next-generation systems
- Fix/mend problems – TRIZ is complementary to traditional root-cause methods
6. Does that mean I don't have to think any more? Will TRIZ give me all the answers?
No: TRIZ is not a black box that will churn out solutions for you. TRIZ helps you focus your thinking on areas where you are more likely to find a solution or idea. In fact, one of the reasons that many people like TRIZ is that it makes them think much harder and more smartly than they did before.
Back to top
7. What could TRIZ possibly teach me about being creative?
One of the things Altshuller said is that TRIZ will make naturally creative people three times more creative (and a non-creative person ten times more creative).
Creative people mostly take to TRIZ very quickly and are very excited by it. Whatever your abilities TRIZ will expand your mental toolkit and help you find all the possible solutions to your problem.
8. I'm an expert in my field. What use is TRIZ to me?
TRIZ can help you see outside your field, to access good solutions that have been employed in other industries and adapt them to your own problems.
9. I don't like systematic or structured ways of doing things
Solving problems needs an ability to gather the relevant information to understand the problem and then find good solutions. Creative freedom is usually the ability to do these steps so fast you don’t realise how you’ve done it. This is great provided you come up with answers quickly. When the answers don’t come readily TRIZ takes you through the necessary steps. You will still need to think creatively and use your brain: all of the best parts of “free” thinking are there, but within a framework to help you focus on the most profitable areas for your thought and time. What we’ve found is that even naturally creative people come up with better ideas using TRIZ, and a lot more ideas.
Back to top
10. It sounds like I'd need months to get to grips with TRIZ properly. Is that true?
You can learn how to use all the TRIZ tools in five days. After that you simply need to practise. There are many different tools in TRIZ, some of them can be taught and understood in a short time, and give incredible benefits quickly. In essence there are four sets of problem solving tools and 4 sets of problem analysis tools.
11. I can see that TRIZ works. Where's the evidence?
TRIZ is used to great effect in the USA, Asia and Eastern Europe: it has come to Western Europe only fairly recently. One of the reasons it isn’t known more extensively is that many companies have hidden their use of TRIZ to give them an edge over their competitors.
12. I can't find any examples of TRIZ being used in the areas I'm interested in - there appear to be so few TRIZ success stories.
Companies are reluctant to release case studies to the public for several reasons:
- Many are still in the process of applying for patents.
- They don’t want to draw attention to a method which could make their competitors as successful as they are.
- They like to keep their image of being clever: they don’t want anyone else to think they could come up with the same ideas as them.
There is a lot of myth surrounding the “eureka” moment, and a lot of creative people perpetuate it. What they rarely talk about is the hours, weeks, months, even years that they have spent working on this problem before finding the solution; it was already in their brain - they just had to uncover it. TRIZ helps you uncover the solutions that are in your brain, and leads to solutions you would never have found on your own. TRIZ can teach us all to be creative and innovative.
Talk to us. Our training partner has experience across many fields: automotive, aerospace, nuclear, military, chemical, manufacturing, service etc. Although many of our clients don’t want their competitors to know that they’re using TRIZ as they think it gives them a competitive advantage, we will give you examples of TRIZ being used in your field wherever we can. In general we have found that the TRIZ processes and tools can apply to almost any situation, from management problems to emergency response teams, to developing a new regulatory framework for military aircraft to cutting costs.
Back to top
13. I know creativity is a key driver of growth, I think the ideas up. Problem is, I need to know which of these work.
TRIZ can help in identifying which, out of your millions of ideas, will prove to be the best ones to pursue.
14. We're very busy and TRIZ sounds very time-consuming. Using TRIZ will slow us down. How can you solve that contradiction?
TRIZ will slow you down only at first. Like learning any new skill, at first you will go slower using TRIZ than using your usual problem solving methods, as it takes time to become comfortable with it. However, with practice you will work much more quickly, and very soon you will find yourself working faster and more efficiently than you did before you learnt TRIZ. The contradiction is that you need to learn new skills to work faster, but don’t have the time to study them. If you make the time now though, you will save it in the long run.
15. I don't have any problems. Why do I need TRIZ?
(You’re not looking hard enough!)
TRIZ isn’t just for solving problems. The skills you learn in problem definition are just as vital for seeing your situation clearly: your product, your department, your company. TRIZ helps improve existing systems by removing harms and costs and increasing benefits: in this way you can make your systems not just more cost-effective, but also better and more profitable. TRIZ can help you work out what you want and how you can get there. TRIZ can help you see where your market is going and how you can get there before your competitors: whether that means showing you how to improve your existing products, or identifying what new products will come onto the market and make your existing products obsolete.
Back to top
16. How can TRIZ still be relevant if research on TRIZ stopped in the 80s?
Altshuller stopped working on TRIZ in the 80s and concentrated on the nature of creativity. However, there is an active TRIZ community that continually works on Altshuller’s ideas, refining and improving them. The crucial thing to remember is that TRIZ is based on defining and solving problems in their most generic forms: in this sense, very little has happened that has changed Altshuller’s original ideas significantly. If you look at the patents on the patent database, most of them use already known technologies (just applied in a different field, or market).
17. Do I need software to use TRIZ?
No. We have found that software gets in the way of the TRIZ process. The way in which TRIZ is most effective is that it gets the most of out of your brain, and by the time you become proficient in TRIZ, the methods and tools will become part of your normal thought processes.
18. A quick web search indicates a plethora of TRIZ vendors. What makes you different from the rest?
TRIZ is not regulated, so anyone can claim to teach TRIZ. The safest route is to ask their customers. We have introduced TRIZ to Rolls-Royce and BAe Systems and taught hundreds of engineers in both companies. Communicating TRIZ takes great skill and requires both good knowledge of TRIZ and a clear understanding of how it works. Many suppliers, particularly those who see TRIZ merely as an add-on to Six Sigma, tend to teach it very superficially.
Back to top
19. Where are the weak points in TRIZ?
You still need to think for yourself. There still needs to be a creative leap when solving problems, but with TRIZ that leap is much smaller.
20. Can TRIZ solve any problem?
Almost!
Back to top
|