Genrich S. Altshuller is te founding father of TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. I am stuying the facilitation of knowledge networks and communities of practice in the application of methods like TRIZ. One of the better reference pages about TRIZ can be found here; an interesting part for that facilitation is the part where is described how Altshuller noted that the source of the solution required broader knowledge and more solutions to consider before an ideal one could be found.
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Table 1. Levels of Inventiveness. |
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Level |
Degree of inventiveness |
% of solutions |
Source of knowledge |
Approximate # of solutions to consider |
|
1 |
Apparent solution |
32% |
Personal knowledge |
10 |
|
2 |
Minor improvement |
45% |
Knowledge within company |
100 |
|
3 |
Major improvement |
18% |
Knowledge within the industry |
1000 |
|
4 |
New concept |
4% |
Knowledge outside the industry |
100,000 |
|
5 |
Discovery |
1% |
All that is knowable |
1,000,000 |
What Altshuller tabulated was that over 90% of the problems engineers faced had been solved somewhere before. If engineers could follow a path to an ideal solution, starting with the lowest level, their personal knowledge and experience, and working their way to higher levels, most of the solutions could be derived from knowledge already present in the company, industry, or in another industry.
This happened at 10:49:33 PM or
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