What is systematic innovation? What is TRIZ? Why is there so much hype?

Click here for some answers to those burning questions…

Following the publication of the 2003 version of the Contradiction Matrix, the Systematic Innovation research team has continued an intensive research programme to reverse engineer the strategies used by technical problem solvers during the course of their attempts to challenge conflicts and contradictions. At the time of writing, that analysis has now taken in over three million solutions involving some kind of step-change advance.

Very early after the 2003 edition of the Matrix was published, we declared that we would publish a new edition once the ‘accuracy’ of the tool fell below 90%. ‘Accuracy’ in our terms, involves the likelihood that after we reverse engineer a new solution that the strategies used by the problem solver matched the ones that would have been recommended by the matrix. While that accuracy figure is still greater than 90% in some domains, the sub-90% threshold was crossed in the middle part of 2009, and so the decision was made to honour the commitment we had made to ourselves.

Rather than merely update the numbers in the 48x48 structure introduced in the 2003 edition, we also felt it was timely to incorporate several new elements that have emerged over the course of our broader research activities. Specifically, these are:

1)    Incorporation of conflict-challenging solutions from nature.

2)    Incorporation of intangible parameters.

3)    Nano-and-beyond scale conflict resolution strategies

4)    Improved physical contradiction resolution strategies and means for translating between different types of contradiction.

5)    Strategies for use of Inventive Principles in combination with one another

Taken together, we believe we have taken the Matrix to another level of sophistication, while at the same time made what we think is a useful step-change improvement in usability of the tool. And if that sounds like solving a contradiction, you’re probably right.

Happy breakthrough solution finding.

Darrell Mann

Grado, Italy, October 2009

        Over 90% of innovations fail before they reach the market

        Over 90% of those innovations that do reach the market will also fail

        Over 90% of innovations are delivered late, over-budget or to a lower quality than was
        originally planned

        Over 90% of collaborative innovations fail

Here’s why.

Templeton Three is that rare thing, a readable business novel. A tear-making indictment of the unintended damage caused by the large majority of Lean & SixSigma initiatives.

Helen Eisenmaus was born in the UK, but now lives mostly in the US.She is an engineer, and is at least 5’ 4” tall.

Hardback
184 pages.

TrenDNA – Understanding Populations Better Than They Understand Themselves

Our new book represents the output of a six year programme of research to try and understand the weird and wonderful world of consumer and market trends. ‘Why do hundreds of apparently predictable trends lead to so many failed new products?’ we wondered. Eventually, we found the answer. An answer  we’ve now been testing with clients for the last 3 years with paradigm-changing levels of success. So now is the time to launch our findings into the big wide world. More an ideation-facilitation toolset than a book, TrenDNA contains a 160page book, 160 individual trend cards and a double-sided A1 fold-out template sheet, all held together in a handy-sized A5 slip-case. Usable by individuals or groups, the set allows users to work through a systematic, reproducible 6-step process to first identify what their intended customers really want, then to create the right solutions to meet those needs.

         TrenDNA: taking the guesswork out of consumer & market dynamics

         TrenDNA: a comprehensive map of current trends; a way of reliably predicting trends that haven’t happened yet.

         TrenDNA: a landmark beginning to a new paradigm in consumer insight gathering

Systematic (Software) Innovation:

Our comprehensive Software Innovation text, first published in October 2008. The result of over 8 years of dedicated research into the underlying DNA of software innovation. The book that was written three times, the first of which was back at the end of, gulp, 2004. How can anyone get their estimates so wrong? One of the reasons is that the theme of the book has shifted significantly since we first committed our programme of software innovation research. The first version of the book was merely intended to be a description of the tools emerging from the research. ‘We want more case studies’ people said. Enter the problem that nearly all of the case studies that people then volunteered turned out not to be software problems at all. So the book was re-written as a book to help software professionals see beyond their usually limited silo-mentality horizons. Twelve months later and the next round of market research said, ‘hey, this isn’t a software book’. And so we went back to the drawing board again to somehow solve the contradiction of making the book feel relevant to software engineers while at the same time getting them out of their (virtual) box and looking at the real world. Orders can be placed by filling in the fax-back form.

          480 pages of world re-defining software innovation insight

          check out the foreword from well-known IT author Bryan Maizlish here.

         There are approximately 1800 management texts published every year. No-one – least of all a busy manager – has the time to look at even a fraction of what is available. When we started applying the systematic innovation techniques to business situations back in the mid-1990s, we posed the question: What if we could distil all of the useful stuff from those 1800 management texts per year and present the results in a coherent and integrated manner?

          The result, Hands-On Systematic Innovation for Business & Management, focuses on tangible benefits (i.e. that it enables the reader to successfully tackle any problem or opportunity situation they are working on), rather than being just another collection of features.

         

     NEW: March 2007 – the new edition of the book is now available. Featuring new trends, updates to IFR, resources and (finally!) a one- sheet version of the Business Contradiction Matrix.

    Some say it’s better than the book. Read the new Foreword from the P&G Chief Creative Officer here

         The second edition of our main technical innovation text was published in October 2007,incorporating research findings subsequent to the original 2002 version.

          Now one of the biggest selling TRIZ/Systematic Innovation books ever.

          550 pages of innovation nuggets

    “it’s like five text books in one”

    “The best book on TRIZ bar none"

Updated re-print of a one of the key texts from the ‘intellectual Michelangelo’ of our times, Edward Matchett.

Fundamental Design Method is an essential read for anyone interested in Systematic Innovation

Read Darrell’s foreword here.

140 pages, softback cover.

TRIZ Companion

140-page pocket book

containing essential

TRIZ information

Systematic (Software) Innovation

Complete new IT problem-solving/opportunity

finding methodology

Matrix 2003 (German Version)

Update of the contradiction

matrix from Classical TRIZ

Hands-On Systematic Innovation

(Japanese edition)

Click on the logo below to order

from our Japanese partners:

£20 + shipping

Click here for order form

Hands-On Systematic Innovation

(Chinese edition)

Hands-On-Systematic Innovation Case Studies

A collection of case studies demonstrating the systematic implementation of innovation techniques

Innovation DNA

Innovation for Senior Managers

& Strategists. The whole

Innovation story in 30,000 words

The Road to True Professionalism

MagNotes toolkit

Visualization aids to log and map brainstorming processes (magnetic, wipe-clean surface, colour-coded)

Innovation Toolbox

The Innovation Toolbox is a set of physical tools that can be passed around, written on, discussed and shared during brainstorming

Inventive Principles playing cards

Every playing card describes an Inventive Principle – one of 40 strategies most likely to solve a conflict situation
(temporary out of stock)

Trends of Evolution Cards

Laminated cards for Business and Technical applications – highly effective solution triggers for use during brainstorming

(from the Innovation Toolbox)