How can you apply the contradiction matrix of TRIZ to find the best solution for a trade-off?
Have you ever faced a trade-off between two desirable features or parameters of a product, service, or system? For example, how do you make a car more fuel-efficient without compromising its speed or safety? How do you design a smartphone that is both durable and lightweight? How do you optimize a website that is both user-friendly and secure?
These are examples of technical contradictions, which are common challenges in innovation and problem-solving. Technical contradictions occur when improving one aspect of a system worsens another aspect. To overcome these contradictions, you need to find a way to satisfy both aspects without compromising either one.
One powerful tool that can help you do this is the contradiction matrix of TRIZ. TRIZ is an acronym for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, a systematic method of creativity and innovation developed by Soviet engineer Genrich Altshuller. The contradiction matrix of TRIZ is a table that maps 39 engineering parameters (such as weight, speed, reliability, cost, etc.) against each other and suggests 40 inventive principles (such as segmentation, asymmetry, feedback, etc.) that can be applied to resolve the contradiction.