Innovators use the TRIZ method

Troyka TRIZ is a powerful toolbox to create innovations.

The Troyka TRIZ method is used by developers, designers and inventors that want to make exceptionally good designs and products.

The Troyka TRIZ method is applicable when something new needs to be made or invented: a new business model, a new product, a new technical installation, a new production process, a better design, or a strong new patent application.

Develop an original idea. Develop it fast. Make it effective. Learn here how to innovate using Troyka TRIZ.

The first thing you want for an exceptionally good design, is something that has high
ideality: an elegant solution without any harmful side effects. Follow 7 steps to victory:

• Defining Ideality: The design process starts with setting an objective. What benefits should the design bring to the users in the ideal case?
• Functional design: A Function Analysis Diagram systematically identifies what needs to be done to obtain the desired benefits for users. In this phase it is not recorded how these functions will be realized, because this would unnecessarily restrict freedom of thought. We focus on conceptual design, where creativity can be used to the maximum.
• Concretize: When the conceptual design is complete, all functions must be made concrete: we have to choose specific solutions. At TROYKA TRIZ we use the technique of PRISMA thinking for this (you get a lot of specific solutions of high quality).
• Identify conflicts: Now that the design has become concrete, a professional will be able to assess how ideal (or how bad) the chosen specific solutions are. With TROYKA TRIZ we systematically map which conflicts are present (there is a conflict or a technical contradiction if an improvement of one aspect of the design leads to a deterioration of another aspect).
• Eliminate conflicts: Technical contradictions in a design are the deepest cause of trouble and reduce the ideality. At TROYKA TRIZ we eliminate these contradictions by choosing the most ideal solution from our manual with Inventive Principles.
• Make it more ideal. If all contradictions have been resolved satisfactorily, there may still be harmful side effects in the design. This “damage” is made visible with a Function Analysis Diagram. A checklist of Standard Solutions systematically looks for the best way to eliminate or limit the damage, while all useful functions remain.
• Evaluate. Finally, we evaluate whether the objective of the design has been fully achieved. If that is not the case, a number of steps must be taken again.

TROYKA TRIZ consists of 25 tools (see the diagram). The Troyka TRIZ course includes a handbook that teaches how to use each of these tools. Here a short summary of what the tools are and how they help to innovate: 

1. Physical contradictions – a conflict in a technical system that is caused by two requirements that cannot be met simultaneously. Example: you want a mechanical system to be both rigid and flexible.

2. Separation principles – the method to solve physical contradictions. Example: you make the system rigid at microscale and flexible at large scale. In this way both requirements are satisfied.

3. Technical contradictions – a conflict in a technical system : if you want to improve one aspect of the system, something else gets worse. Technical contradictions are caused by physical contradictions, hence can be eliminated by solving the underlying physical contradiction. Technical contradictions can also be solved by using Inventive Principles.

4. Inventive Principles – there are 40 inventive principles. Each of these principles achieves a certain unique effect that can be used to eliminate technical contradictions. These 40 principles were derived from an analysis of a very large number of patents. The importance of these 40 principles of invention cannot be overstated. Troyka TRIZ includes a book on Inventive Principles that will inspire you to find inventive solutions for your problems.

5. Contradiction Matrix – this is an easy-to-use tool to find generic solutions for technical contradictions. It tells you which inventive principle to use for a given question.

6. Effects database – tools that are available on internet for finding ways to achieve certain effects.

7. Operator Size, Time, Cost – a way to identify up the extremes. This tool makes brainstorming much more productive.

8. Five levels of invention – inventions can be classified in 5 levels. Analysing your field of work in terms of these 5 levels will help you determine where there is potential for more innovations.

9. TRIZ trends – technical systems develop according to predictable patterns. The TRIZ trends will open your eyes for trendwatching. This allows you to predict today what will likely happen in the next years in a certain field of technology.

10. Ideal Final Result – this is a method that helps you to identify the perfect design. You ask yourself how to get all benefits you want at zero costs and no harmful effects. Ideal Final Result is used as a compass to navigate you towards the best solution.

11. Ideality audit – if you have developed a solution for a problem, this method helps you to assess how good your solution is, and finds which aspects still need to be improved.

12. Resources – in every situation there will be resources that you can use to deliver functions and increase benefits. Troyka TRIZ has a very extensive checklist to help you identify all available resources. Using resources will increase the ideality of your innovation.

13. Function Analysis Diagram – with this tool you can diagnose where the problems are and how they work through the system. It is a graphical representation of the objects and functions in a system. This tool is very effective to increase the common understanding of a team of people working on the same project.

14.Trimming – a method to increase the ideality of a Function Analysis Diagram. The idea is to take away harmful effects, while still delivering the benefits you want.

15. Forced Numbering – a Troyka TRIZ method to systematically do product development by considering all possible configurations.

16. Seventy-six Standard Methods – this is a list of recipes to can eliminate harmful effects. It delivers more rigorous and more imaginative solutions than any brainstorming would do.

17. PRISMA of TRIZ – a method to help you become systematic in you innovative thinking. It translates a specific question into a generic question; then it uses TRIZ knowledge to identify (many) generic solutions; finally you use knowledge of the context of your problem to identify specific solutions. This method will make any brainstorming very much more efficient and productive.

18. Bad Solutions Parking – some people have many spontaneous ideas. To other people these ideas may seem random and can in fact block the progress, especially when these ideas become dominant. This method helps you to capture these spontaneous ideas for use later. Several TRIZ tools are used to analyse and improve these spontaneous ideas.

19. Nine Screens – a tool to analyze any problem in time and scale. It gives you a good perspective on complex problems.

20. X-factor – this helps in a situation where you realize there is something missing in the system, but when you have no clue on what that missing element could be. X-factor will help you to identify what you need to solve the problem.

21. Substance-Field Analysis – come to the essence of a problem, the solution is in a triangle. This is a kind of algorithm that can identify an X-factor.

22. Simple Words – the solution comes from using clear language that everybody can understand.

23. Smart Little People – an army of small helpers gives you a creative solution.

24. ARIZ – an algorithm for problem solving. This is a procedure that takes you step-by-step through a thinking process and uses several TRIZ tools to come up with an ideal solution.

25. TRIZ SCOUT – a tool to find in a short time the correct diagnosis of a problem. It will deliver a plan of action on how to solve the problem using TRIZ tools.