Real life examples of applying the inventive TRIZ principle Local quality
Principles are the pillars on which our body of knowledge rests, not the methods, but the principles
By studying 200000 invention patents worldwide, Genrich Altshuller
identified 40 inventive principles that he found to be behind all those inventions.
This is the most widely known tool of TRIZ. Though Altshuller and his co-workers
later developed a number of other tools in addition to the 40 principles, I
believe:
“Principles are the pillars on which our body of knowledge rests, not the methods, but the principles.”
There is a reason for this: principles are
abstract and so can be applied anywhere suitably. If you incorporate principles, be it inventive or be it
value based, in your mindset, you are not bound by any set of
processes prescribed by any method. Your own inherent problem solving ability will use
the right principle at the right place to find the desired solution.
Awareness and practice of
useful and believable principles make your whole mind more healthy and strong
in decision making, the core
function of mind (Sorry, is it preaching? If so, please pardon me, at this
stage I don’t like to preach or teach, I like most to share that I know largely
from my experiences).
I am a methodologist, but still I place methods below the principles layer
because, a method kind of
binds you in a step by step process restriction. As soon as you follow a
step by step process, your
mind loses the flexibility to think free. Your mind has enormous power. To
unleash the power you have to give it food, take care of it and in return it
will roam free and will give you unthought of treasures; such things that you
never imagined possible.
Of course you should follow a method, but follow it as a part of an approach
that has much larger scope of analysis, option evaluation and generation of new
ideas.
Without further delay we would now go straight into business talk. We would
take up a rather less used principle:
Principle 3: Local quality
Adapt the
individual properties or parts of the object to the required local conditions:
Handle grip of a motorcycle
This is just one description of the meaning of the principle, there can be
similar others. It conveys the basic meaning in abstract form. You may wonder,
even though you saw an example, how can I use it?
Remember,
“Before using a principle you
must understand it” (for any
principle this more abstract principle is valid).
How can you understand a principle? The first and foremost step is to find example around you
where this principle is applied. The principle most probably has
been applied unknowingly, but still it becomes clear to you that this is an
example of application of the specific principle. Finding out yourself such
examples is critically important to build knowledge that stays.
This is a very useful step for
learning all concepts: first learn it in classroom,
and then start finding its
application or presence in the environment around you. Do not ignore the
intangible environment at all—the domain of ideas. Tangible environment
consists of the physical objects that you see or touch around you (Can you see
air? Is it tangible?)
Story 1: Banknote denominations from ATMs
About seven minutes’ walk away from my house is the main junction in our
place where the banks, shops, bus stand and other shops are available—though that
is not exactly a commercial centre. Ours is a small place—most people, I
perceive, do not belong to the high earner class (purely subjective statement;
still it carries a sense of meaning).
One day first time I noticed a difficulty we were facing for the last few
months:
The ATM at the main junction dispensed only 1000 rupee notes and it was a
bother to get it changed into smaller denominations.
I tried another ATM nearer home, but it also behaved similarly. Though we were
coping with it, it was still a bother. I made a written request to the bank
manager regarding the difficulty, and then forgot the matter.
Recently I noticed that, as a rule:
The ATM at the main junction
still dispenses 1000 rupee notes, but the ATM nearer to my house located
in a not so affluent residential area, dispenses 500 rupee notes.
I was furthermore happy to discover a new ATM very near my home and it also dispensed 500 rupee
notes only.
In short: The bank studied the
demography of the localities and then tuned its banknote dispensing logic to
the perceived affluence level of would be ATM customers in each locality.
Story 2: Interior house wall painting
Sometime back this happened, but still I remember it because of the
surprise it gave me.
I was renovating my house. After all the activities I had reached the wall
painting stage. There was no problem with the exterior wall painting, though colour
choice was critical for the interior walls.
To keep things simple, I chose three colours for all the rooms: a colour like
inside of oyster shell for the drawing room that opened up to a number of
windows and doors, a deeper light cream yellow for a special room by the side
of the drawing room and a still lighter cream yellow for the rest of the rooms.
I wanted the special room colour to have a bit more yellow hue—it brightens up
the room considerably that I have found through long experience.
The painting of the drawing room and the special room was finished
simultaneously by the evening. Being a critical person, I examined the wall
colour time to time and was satisfied. The subtle drawing room colour came out nearly
exactly as I wanted. It looked slightly yellowish, but I accepted it.
When the painters had gone, it was evening. First I entered my lighted up drawing
room. There was no yellow tinge—colour was wonderful. Then I entered the
special room and switched on the light. It was bright white light and the room
was smaller than the drawing room. I looked around with great astonishment. I couldn’t
recognize the room—is it the room I saw in the morning? It looked awfully white—there
was no hint of yellow at all. It was a real shock for me.
I called up my painter and invited him for a look-see. He lived nearby. We discussed
and understood the behaviour of wall colour. Next day following a no-loophole
method we rectified the situation completely.
Reason: The drawing room opened up to a lot of daylight during daytime. That made
the oyster shell colour slightly yellowish. In the evening, in bright white
light the yellow tinge disappeared.
In contrast, the special room was smaller and the bright white light in the
smaller space made the light cream yellow purely off-white.
It was all local conditions—the size of the room, availability of daylight, and difference of colour effect
between daylight and white light.
To generalize: if you understand local conditions very clearly (I call it also as
context), you will be able to arrive at solutions that meet the desired
objectives and make all concerned happy.
In this space, I would go slow and sometimes a bit randomly. If you want to
get a very thorough and exhaustive coverage on 40 TRIZ principles in business environment,
please refer to the excellent article on the subject written by Darrell Mann
and Ellen Domb, two of the leading teachers of TRIZ that we know of.
This article is very exhaustive article covers 40 Inventive (Business)
Principles with Examples.
TRIZ journal holds one of the richest resources in TRIZ domain and a must-see
for any innovation specialist or a TRIZ practitioner or researcher.
Here I would like to differentiate between the general approaches and my
approach. Generally and
understandably all researches and pursuits of new knowledge, specially in the
area of innovation, are targeted towards commercial domains. The reason
is obvious: to carry out any serious pursuit of inquiry or research into a
subject, one needs funding and the funding comes from commercial organizations
with commercial interests.
I hold that innovation
knowledge resources are for everyone, none excluded. A general
awareness of and a few further inevitable actions on (such as practising finding
out applications and actual application) innovation and problem solving using
powerful principles, techniques or methods has the potential to increase the
capability of any mind to solve problems. Innovation may not mean always a
solution that is unique with least cost and great commercial importance. It can very well solve your
personal problem!
TRIZ concepts should be very useful in the areas of research and
development, business innovation, and also improving individual personal lives
directly.
Read my main blog on Innovation & Problem Solving and the other related blog on Innovation - Basic Principles
Read my main blog on Innovation & Problem Solving and the other related blog on Innovation - Basic Principles
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