TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions — TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) is a systematic innovation method developed by Genrich Altshuller after analyzing hundreds of thousands of patents. Its core insight is that most breakthrough problems contain a "technical or physical contradiction" — a situation where improving one parameter worsens another — and that inventors across fields resolve these contradictions using a surprisingly small set of recurring strategies. Sample inventive principles to generate solution directions — Apply one or more of TRIZ’s 40 inventive principles as generative lenses, even without the full contradiction matrix. Trim components to find what you can remove — Systematically ask which components in your current solution could be removed if another component took over their function. Define the ideal final result first — Describe the perfect outcome as if the solution already exists and costs nothing, then work backward to what could enable it. Name the contradiction at the heart of the problem — State exactly which parameter you need to improve and which parameter gets worse as a result. Inventory available resources before adding anything new — List all time, space, information, and energy already present in or around the problem — solutions often hide there. Zen To Done (ZTD), Made Practical — Zen To Done (ZTD) is Leo Babauta’s streamification of Getting Things Done — it keeps GTD’s capture and next-action habits while adding a minimalist philosophy: focus on one habit at a time, maintain a small set of most important tasks each day, and simplify rather than optimize. ZTD is a practitioner system grounded in habit-formation and attention research rather than a formally tested protocol. Build the capture habit before anything else — Install one habit at a time — start with ubiquitous capture — before adding other ZTD practices. Calibrate whether the problem requires invention or just search — Determine whether your problem is already solved elsewhere before investing in original invention. Test — let users break it — Put the prototype in front of real users and treat their confusion as data.

Coaching practices for How to Use Triz

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Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

I’ve been brainstorming this for hours and every idea is a slight variation on the same one
What I’ve built has gotten so complicated that it keeps breaking in new places, and I suspect half the moving parts are doing work something else could absorb
Every option I’m weighing is just a tweak on what already exists
I keep going in circles on this because every fix just shoves the problem somewhere else
My first instinct is always that I need more

Practices that may help

TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) is a systematic innovation method developed by Genrich Altshuller after analyzing hundreds of thousands of patents. Its core insight is that most breakthrough problems contain a "technical or physical contradiction" — a situation where improving one parameter worsens another — and that inventors across fields resolve these contradictions using a surprisingly small set of recurring strategies.
Sample inventive principles to generate solution directions
Apply one or more of TRIZ’s 40 inventive principles as generative lenses, even without the full contradiction matrix.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Trim components to find what you can remove
Systematically ask which components in your current solution could be removed if another component took over their function.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Define the ideal final result first
Describe the perfect outcome as if the solution already exists and costs nothing, then work backward to what could enable it.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Name the contradiction at the heart of the problem
State exactly which parameter you need to improve and which parameter gets worse as a result.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Inventory available resources before adding anything new
List all time, space, information, and energy already present in or around the problem — solutions often hide there.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Zen To Done (ZTD), Made Practical
Zen To Done (ZTD) is Leo Babauta’s streamification of Getting Things Done — it keeps GTD’s capture and next-action habits while adding a minimalist philosophy: focus on one habit at a time, maintain a small set of most important tasks each day, and simplify rather than optimize. ZTD is a practitioner system grounded in habit-formation and attention research rather than a formally tested protocol.
Build the capture habit before anything else
Install one habit at a time — start with ubiquitous capture — before adding other ZTD practices.
Zen To Done (ZTD), Made Practical
Calibrate whether the problem requires invention or just search
Determine whether your problem is already solved elsewhere before investing in original invention.
TRIZ: Systematic Invention and the Logic of Contradictions
Test — let users break it
Put the prototype in front of real users and treat their confusion as data.
Design Thinking, Step by Step

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