Everyone familiar with TRIZ?
Just a reminder: it's an acronym from Russian, so no need to expand it precisely, but in English it is generally referred to as "the theory of inventive problem solving" (sometimes, TIPS)
The TRIZ process is sort of a mind mapping into distinct categories, the so-called TRIZ-40, originally envisioned as a way to actually structure the process of innovation.
The way I got onto this was from a blog by Matthew Squair positing a 'reverse TRIZ' process.
Squair does it this way:
1. Start with the objective e.g. “Minimise the risk of a plant gas leak and explosion”.
2. Reverse this objective e.g. “I want to increase the risk of a plant gas leak and explosion”
3. Then exaggerate/amplify the objective (hazard), e.g., “I want lots of gas leaks and when they occur big explosions!”
4. Finally ask the participants, “What resources do I need to achieve this objective”, some answers in this case might be:
- Lots of pipework joints
- Store lots of gas in the system
- Make sure that gas can leak into areas where it doesn’t disperse
- Ensure that there’s lot’s of maintenance… and so on.
