Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“Civilization did not rise and flourish as men hammered out hunting scenes on bronze gates and whispered philosophy under the stars, with garbage as a noisome offshoot, swept away and forgotten. No, garbage rose first, inciting … Read More

Wow In Music – Lost Ones

Darrell Mann

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies … Read More

Not So Funny – Pet Rock Redux & Other Barely Essential Luxuries

Darrell Mann

One thing I’ve never been able to properly forgive my parents for is their refusal to let me have a pet-rock when I was a boy. Spool forward 35 years, and it got re-launched as the USB version. … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“INDECISION, n. The chief element of success; “for whereas,” saith Sir Thomas Brewbold, “there is but one way to do nothing and divers way to do something, whereof, to a surety, only one is the right way, it … Read More

Wow In Music – Happy

Darrell Mann

Earworms. Yes. And no. Earworms are songs that you’re unable to get out of your head. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t. Scientists at the University of St Andrews have named the Top 20 official … Read More

Not So Funny – TRIZ Before TRIZ

Darrell Mann

TRIZ research started after the Second World War. The ethos of the research originated around the reverse engineering of successful patents and inventive solutions. What’s less clear is whether there was any parallel inverse research to establish whether … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“Forming-Storming-Norming-Performing” is a well-known evolution pattern in teams. The sequence forms the first half of an s-curve. Few teams think about the second half…

Related posts:

1. Short Thort
2. Use the Eight Patterns of Evolution to … Read More

Wow In Music – I Say A Little Prayer (x2)

Darrell Mann

This month saw the sad passing of singer, Aretha Franklin, a woman who was blessed with arguably the greatest singing voice in the history of recorded music — and with it, the superhuman ability to make songs better … Read More

Not So Funny – Literally Principle 12

Darrell Mann

Principle 12, Equipotentiality, is all about removing tension within systems. When someone is given an instruction and they don’t follow it precisely, we could interpret their discrepancy as a tension. Which is a bad thing. Consequently, we should … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

Innovation is done by pragmatic fantasists…

Related posts:

1. Welcome to the February 2009 Issue of The TRIZ Journal!
2. Editorial Community
3. Short Thort

Read More

Not So Funny – Discarding & Recovering

Darrell Mann

There is just something about the way kids take pictures that is pretty funny. The only thing that might be funnier is when adults decide they want to take those same pictures, decades later. As weird as kids … Read More

Wow In Music – The Downtown Lights

Darrell Mann

I’m writing this at 3am, soft rainfall and ambient lightning flashes outside suggesting, at last, a break in the unstoppable summer weather, and all I want to do is stroll down to the street corner in my local … Read More

Not So Funny – Freudian Slippers

Darrell Mann

Freudian Slips. When you say one thing but mean your mother. So the old cliché goes. Freudian slips reveal contradictions. Or their resolution. Are they Inventive Principle 9, Prior Counter-action? Or Principle 10, Prior Action? Or maybe Principle … Read More

Wow In Music – Awaken

Darrell Mann

1977. Punk had arrived. Which meant if you were Prog, you had suddenly become a dinosaur. Literally overnight. Some prog bands never recovered. Archetypal prog band, Yes, instead took the bit between their teeth and produced one of … Read More

Breaking Rule #1 – What If The Lawyers Didn’t Get Rich?

Related posts:

1. Welcome to the February 2009 Issue of The TRIZ Journal!
2. TRIZ in ASQ’s New Issue
3. Innovation in a Carbon Constrained World

Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

We often use the mouse-in-maze metaphor to describe the innovation process. The basic idea is that we, first, need to know where the cheese is. This is the Ideal Final Result in TRIZ. Knowing where the destination is … Read More

Wow In Music – Wow In Music – Boogie Wonderland

Darrell Mann

Disco music is one of the most denigrated of all the popular genres. For the most part there is good reason for the criticism. The cream, however, always rises given time, and Earth, Wind & Fire’s massive hit, … Read More

Not So Funny – Principle 8, Counterbalance

Darrell Mann

“Where the weight of an object or system causes problems, combine it with something that provides lift.”

Or:

“When an entity or system deviates from a desired path, introduce protocols or forces that provide a re-stabilising … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

“Empathy is a hand thick with scars offering you a bandage.” Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons

“If only you’d remember before ever you sit down to write that you’ve been a reader … Read More

Short Thort

Darrell Mann

Whenever we experience a pair of potentially conflicting attributes – creativity and patience, say, or resourcefulness and naivety, or X and Y – its always possible to construct a 2×2 matrix. When we solve the conflict and get … Read More