Friday, June 16, 2006
TRIZ-what is a Solution?
TRIZ beginners frequently expect complete breakthrough solutions from their initial activities, and are disappointed when they only get good ideas. Roni Horowitz's ASIT newsletter had an excellent discussion of ideas, concepts, solutions, etc., so with his permission, I'm reproducing it here. ASIT is a system that diverged from TRIZ about 15 years ago, but has lots of commonality, and Roni's on-line course is a fantastic deal--$29, takes about an hour and a half, and you really learn something!
Dr. Roni Horowitz's ASIT TECHNIQUE FOR A WEEK - Creativity and Inventive Thinking Number 268 June 9, 2006 10,000 subscribers
ASIT does not help you find ideas...at least not directly. Some people think that by following ASIT step by step, their problem will be solved for them without them having to think. The truth is that ASIT's role is not to provide us with ideas, but with pre-ideas. A pre-idea is a thought that can lead to an idea. An idea can lead to a solution that can eventually lead to an implementation.
Working correctly with ASIT means giving up thinking until arriving at the pre-idea and then starting to think about an idea, a solution, and finally an implementation.
ASIT manages our intellectual resources. In the first problem-solving phase, thinking too much can actually reduce the probability of finding a creative idea, and therefore in this phase ASIT does all the thinking for us. But when a pre-idea is identified, we need to take over and start thinking. It's as if ASIT creates a puzzle for us that we need to solve.
A pre-idea is a short sentence that may be seen as a clue or hint.
A good example for a pre-idea is the famous scene in the Apollo 13 movie in which the NASA officer tells all the technicians, "We need to connect this to that using only these elements."
When using ASIT for problem solving, ASIT plays the part of the NASA officer. It forces us to think within the Closed World of the problem and directs our pre-ideas to find new ways of using existing resources.
An important aspect of pre-ideas is that there is no point in judging them, simply because they are not even ideas. Many creative thinking methods suggest suspension of judgment. However, at some point we do need judgment. ASIT draws a very distinct line between the pre-idea level, where judgment is irrelevant, and the idea and solution level, where
judgment should actually be welcome.
Learn ASIT with the ASIT Premier course:
http://www.start2think.com
Learn how to use ASIT to develop exciting new product ideas:
http://www.start2innovate.com
Systematic Inventive Thinking
Get the famous Harvard Business Review article (we will cover the cost!) http://www.sitsite.com
Dr. Roni Horowitz's ASIT TECHNIQUE FOR A WEEK - Creativity and Inventive Thinking Number 268 June 9, 2006 10,000 subscribers
ASIT does not help you find ideas...at least not directly. Some people think that by following ASIT step by step, their problem will be solved for them without them having to think. The truth is that ASIT's role is not to provide us with ideas, but with pre-ideas. A pre-idea is a thought that can lead to an idea. An idea can lead to a solution that can eventually lead to an implementation.
Working correctly with ASIT means giving up thinking until arriving at the pre-idea and then starting to think about an idea, a solution, and finally an implementation.
ASIT manages our intellectual resources. In the first problem-solving phase, thinking too much can actually reduce the probability of finding a creative idea, and therefore in this phase ASIT does all the thinking for us. But when a pre-idea is identified, we need to take over and start thinking. It's as if ASIT creates a puzzle for us that we need to solve.
A pre-idea is a short sentence that may be seen as a clue or hint.
A good example for a pre-idea is the famous scene in the Apollo 13 movie in which the NASA officer tells all the technicians, "We need to connect this to that using only these elements."
When using ASIT for problem solving, ASIT plays the part of the NASA officer. It forces us to think within the Closed World of the problem and directs our pre-ideas to find new ways of using existing resources.
An important aspect of pre-ideas is that there is no point in judging them, simply because they are not even ideas. Many creative thinking methods suggest suspension of judgment. However, at some point we do need judgment. ASIT draws a very distinct line between the pre-idea level, where judgment is irrelevant, and the idea and solution level, where
judgment should actually be welcome.
Learn ASIT with the ASIT Premier course:
http://www.start2think.com
Learn how to use ASIT to develop exciting new product ideas:
http://www.start2innovate.com
Systematic Inventive Thinking
Get the famous Harvard Business Review article (we will cover the cost!) http://www.sitsite.com
