In my first TRIZ conference in the last century in California I encountered some elderly TRIZ masters (now deceased). They were uniquely impressive and as they thundered about the importance of the good TRIZ habits, they declared that TRIZniks were not just the most innovative problem solvers but could even resist propaganda and fake news. From Stalin’s time their leaders and community had suffered oppression by the Soviet authorities, which made them intelligently assess those who enthusiastically supported the murderous regimes. These TRIZ Masters claimed it is the half /partially educated who are most susceptible to dangerous misinformation, and that only those who trivially or minimally analyse propaganda are easily swayed by extremists. Their unique TRIZ take on the worrying, widespread support for dictators was that only those too stupid, and/or too busy and distracted to seek/absorb both sides of an argument could believe ridiculous, outrageous claims.
For me the most important TRIZ habit is knowing that almost everything is both good and bad. TRIZ also enhances all we have learned and experienced, which makes us the most fully educated. This helps us ensure that we can uncover what’s true AND what’s false (and missing) about our challenges and solutions. In this way TRIZ makes us effective thinkers, listeners and communicators which is why it can make geniuses of us all.
Good communication (receive and transmit) is a key part of good TRIZ behaviour. My husband was a TRIZ warrior even before I was, so he engages intelligently, and uses TRIZ logic to ensure messages are understood even when badly relayed. The exception is when he listens to me with half an ear – perhaps understandable after 48 years of marriage. The cartoon above always makes
partners of technical people laugh. One way for better communication is to learn logical rules transmitted succinctly in our ‘Storytelling for Engineers’ workshop.
One set of clever people often pose our most FAQ ’Does TRIZ work for software?' This is despite our clear evidence and the overwhelming success of TRIZ in this area. It puzzles me that a group of such clever, well-educated people should doubt that the most logical, systematic and successful TRIZ routes to the best solutions don't apply to their area of expertise. TRIZ listening, sharing knowledge, asking questions to ensure that all the real facts and requests are uncovered is an important basis for teamwork especially when problem solving.
