What's Your Problem?

Rather than scratching heads when faced with a seemingly impossible contradiction in a job, engineers could do worse than apply the Triz theory.

There has been quite a buzz around Triz, the Russian theory of problem solving, for some time. Since it was fully refined in the mid-1980s its use has been slowly spreading as word gets round, much like the increasing popularity of a political movement.

Fans of Triz even talk about it almost taking over their lives: how they can't help using its vocabulary all the time, how they use it to plan the family holiday and how, once you've got used to Triz, "you can't shake it off".

Of course, just because a few evangelists declare Triz the new rock 'n' roll in engineering theory, it doesn't necessarily make it so. But the growing band of companies using Triz, or at least undergoing training in it, and achieving positive results, is a little more persuasive.

It is based on the idea that much of the work in solving problems has already been done and that there are principles of creativity, common to all innovations, that can be taught. The word Triz comes from an acronym for a Russian phrase which roughly translates as Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.

Read this article: What's Your Problem?