Founded by Genrich Altshuller and Rafael Shapiro (On the Psychology of Inventive Creativity, 1956) and developed by Altshuller (The Innovation Algorithm, 1969).
Recasts an engineering problem as a contradiction between two parameters and points to the inventive principles that resolved the same contradiction in patents across industries.
When to reach for it
When improving one property of a product or process keeps making another worse, and the usual trade-offs have stalled.
How it runs
- State the problem as a contradiction: improve X without worsening Y.
- Translate X and Y into the standard TRIZ parameters.
- Look up the contradiction matrix for the suggested principles.
- Brainstorm concrete uses of each principle in the domain.
- Develop several candidate solutions and compare them.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- On the Psychology of Inventive Creativity, Voprosy Psikhologii, 1956
- The Innovation Algorithm, English translation 1999, 1969