TABLE OF CONTENTS In the first chapter, we showed that a new approach to problem solving is needed and briefly outlined the basic features of TRIZ. In this chapter, we construct a model for problem solving. The model is like a general map that shows, by words and pictures, how to use the most important TRIZ features in problem solving. Details will be studied in later chapters. This short chapter is very important. The model presented will guide you through the details and help keep you on track as you study and use TRIZ.
We will construct the model in five steps. First, we describe the concept of contradiction. Second, mapping resources is added to the model. Third, the concept of the ideal final result is formulated. These steps form the inner shell of the model. The fourth and fifth parts of the model are the patterns of evolution and innovative principles.
This model for problem solving is based on the theory of TRIZ, on customer feedback from people who have used it and on the knowledge of the styles of human thinking and problem solving activity.
One of the early insights of the TRIZ researchers was that solving a problem meant removing a contradiction. If we compare the TRIZ problem-solving methodology to a tree, the concept of contradiction can be compared to the seed, from which we can grow the whole tree. If we would like to express the idea of TRIZ by a...
