And now for something completely different. Are you an engineer who would like to be more creative? Or are you a non-engineer who would like to be more creative? Or are you a non-engineer who would like the engineers you work with to be more creative. I may have the answer for all of you. I can't help those of you who want to be less creative or would like to shackle someone you work with.
The answer is TRIZ. What is TRIZ you say? TRIZ is a Russian acronym for "Theory of Solving Problems Inventively". Dr. Genrich S. Altshuller developed the TRIZ method of problem solving. He was a Russian inventor and engineer who researched millions of patents to determine how most problems are solved. What he found has been catalogued and developed into a method for solving engineering problems of all types. Altshuller's basic principle is that all technical systems evolve toward increasing degrees of ideality. The ideal state is one in which only benefits exist with no harmful effects. Getting to the ideal state means defining it and then working backwards to the current condition. TRIZ is the method used to resolve the conflict between benefits and harmful effects to get to the ideal solution. The key here is that the conflict is resolved without making tradeoffs. Every tradeoff we make in any system we design leads to a less than perfect design. TRIZ strives for perfection.
Another TRIZ principle is that the solution to our problem can be found in our own knowledge 32% of the time and within our own company or agency 45% of the time. In other words, 77% of the solutions to our problems can be found close to home but they are only minor improvements on what already exists. To find major improvements we need to go outside our agency but within our industry to find the solution to another 18% of our problems. This is why brainstorming is useful in our workgroups and why networking in organizations like APWA can be so effective. About 4% of our problems have a solution that can only be found outside our industry. The trick then is to work out the analogy to our own industry to adapt the solution found elsewhere. There's a remaining 1% of our problems that can only be solved with a new discovery. But that means that 99% of our problems have already been solved somewhere by somebody in some fashion.
All of the contradictions and the methods of resolution have been compiled and even turned into free TRIZ software to take advantage of previous solutions. I have an entrepreneurial friend who has all his employees trained in TRIZ in every new business he runs. He's that Gung-ho about it because of the competitive advantage creative thinking gives him. For example, when Rockwell was trying to compete with the Japanese auto industry in making brakes for golf carts, they used TRIZ to come up with a better brake. They and the Japanese had been using auto brakes downsized for golf carts. Their TRIZ analysis resulted in the discovery that using bicycle brakes and making them larger resulted in 8 fewer parts and half the cost.
I think that everyone in public works should become familiar with TRIZ and use it to solve problems. I say that because of the obvious savings that can be realized by using the method. But I also believe that the method can be transformed to solve non-engineering problems and because of its focus on ideality and resolving contradictions rather than making tradeoffs.
If enough public works people develop skills in TRIZ there will be a skill base available to develop the analogous solutions from other fields to deal with that sticky 4% of our problems that we can never solve because we're looking in the wrong place. I've been concerned for a long time that we use the political process to solve problems. It may be a practical reality but it results in tradeoffs and less than perfect systems. A TRIZ approach could help resolve some dilemmas for us by resolving the conflicts rather than picking the lesser of two evils.
Incidentally, I have no financial interest in anything TRIZ. I'm just in love with the potential it could hold for the public works industry.
As usual, comments or questions can be fielded at ostrowj@pacifier.com