This four-day workshop is based on successfully using TRIZ, the theory of inventive problem solving, in many NPD programs over the past 25 years. The TRIZ system has been developed over the past 80 years, where design contradictions are identified and dissected to a very deep level, and then uses strategies based inventions from the the world’s patent databases to generate ideas to overcome these design contradictions. Though not widely-known, TRIZ is gradually spreading throughout the world. It is a very rigorous alternative to common variations on brainstorming. The goal is to generate elegant solutions to the toughest design contradictions, i.e., solutions that are simple and inexpensive without compromising important requirements. The class will be relevant to anyone involved in NPD, at any level, any kind of product and in any industry.
This class is a combination of learning through examples and then extensive practice by the students for deeper learning. The material is based on books, co-authored by David Troness, known as “TRIZ Power Tools”.
Day 1:
- Goals, objectives, and expectations
- Current approaches to understanding & solving problems, e.g., Six-Sigma, Design Thinking, Agile, and other ideation techniques
- Use the tools you know to solve example problems
- Solution Quality: bad, good, and elegant
- Origin and foundations of TRIZ
- Process for using TRIZ
- Technical Contradictions
- Contradiction Matrix
- 40 Inventive Principles
Day 2:
- Review material covered in Day 1
- Practice more of the inventive principles
- Defining design contradictions with Simple “Causal Analysis”
- Physical contradictions
- Separation strategies:
- Separate in Time
- Separate Gradually
- Separate in Space
- Separate by Scale
Day 3:
- Review material covered in Day 2
- Separation Strategies – continued
- Separate by Direction
- Separate by Perspective
- Separate Between Substance and Field
- Separate by Field Properties
- Exercise – Small group competition on quality & quantity of solutions to example design contradictions
- Advanced Causal Analysis for identifying many contradictions
Day 4:
- Review material covered in Day 3
- Advanced Causal Analysis – continued
- Ideal Final Result
- Trends of Evolution
- Scientific Effects databases
- Exercise – Practice all the methods on one problem, to achieve elegant solutions.
- Next steps, resources, and certifications.
Available Customizations:
- Work on your problems as much as possible, instead of our examples. Of course, we would sign NDA’s as requested
- Can focus on different types of problems, e.g., technical, non-technical, business, organizational problems, etc.
- Work in pairs or small groups
This class is also offered in a “coaching” format where it is completed over a 2-3-month period while gradually covering the same content and practice, without requiring entire days in training.