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.

Why it works

The 40 inventive principles are distilled solution archetypes that recur across domains and industries. Applying even a few of them (segmentation, the other way round, dynamics, preliminary action) forces the brain out of its default solution search and into structurally different solution spaces. The principles work as generative prompts — not answers, but oblique questions that bypass fixation.

How to do it

1. Pick 3–5 inventive principles at random or from a contradiction-matrix lookup (segmentation, preliminary action, dynamics, inversion, composite materials are good starting points).
2. For each principle, ask: "If I applied this principle to my problem, what would that look like?"
3. Generate at least one concrete solution direction per principle before evaluating any.
4. Combine promising directions from two different principles to find novel hybrid approaches.

Evidence

The 40 principles are derived from Altshuller’s large-scale patent analysis (reportedly 40,000+ patents in early versions, later expanded). Their efficacy as creative prompts is supported by practitioner reports and some observational studies of engineering teams; controlled experimental evidence is limited. (observational)

Most published TRIZ outcome evidence comes from engineering and product development; generalization to knowledge work or personal problem solving is plausible but not well studied.

Common mistake

Evaluating each principle’s generated idea immediately, which kills divergent search before the full solution space is visible. Generate first, evaluate separately.