TRIZ

TRIZ is a methodology that combines an organized, systematic method of problem solving with analysis and forecasting techniques drawn from patterns identified in patent literature, its name an acronym for a Russian phrase usually translated as the theory of inventive problem solving. Soviet inventor and science fiction author Genrich Altshuller, together with colleagues, began developing it in 1946 while working in the inventions inspection department of the Soviet Navy's Caspian Sea flotilla, where he evaluated invention proposals and noticed recurring patterns in technical problems. TRIZ is used to create and improve products, services and systems, particularly in situations where improving one parameter tends to worsen another, a situation Altshuller called a technical contradiction. The methodology rests on three findings, that problems and solutions recur across different industries and sciences, that patterns of technical evolution recur across fields, and that innovations often produce scientific effects beyond their original field, and from these Altshuller developed tools including the forty principles of invention and a contradiction matrix for structured problem solving. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/