Case Study: Cleaning School

Darrell Mann

In theory, keeping school buildings clean is a simple problem. On the other hand, because it involves people – especially those wonderful balls of chaos called ‘pupils’ – it turns out to be complex. As in complex-adaptive-system complex. … Read More

Eudaimonism: Happiness & Meaning

Darrell Mann

In South Korea, very graciously, I’m known as the ‘Father Of Business TRIZ’. Sadly, I’ve never managed to get the TRIZ community in that country to get beyond the idea that ‘business TRIZ’ is all about a business … Read More

Innovation Systems

Darrell Mann

‘Successful step-change.’ That’s our usual definition of innovation. Especially if we’re trying to be succinct. ‘Successful realisation of new customer value,’ is the slightly less condensed form. Both represent innovation as an outcome.

And if innovation is an … Read More

Patent of the Month – ThermoAcoustic Engine

Darrell Mann

Well, it’s never going to win prizes for readability, but patent of the month this month is nevertheless an elegant evolution of the thermoacoustic engine. US9,777,951 was granted to a quartet of inventors at Tokai University in Japan … Read More

Right-versus-Right versus Right-versus-Wrong

Darrell Mann

TRIZ tells us there are three basic kinds of contradiction – technical, physical and administrative. The third of which usually finds itself ignored because it in effect all about those situations where we know what we want, but … Read More

Call for papers, projects and participation – ICSI & GCSI

Daniel Shue

The 9th International Conference on Systematic Innovation (ICSI) & the 8th Global Competition on Systematic Innovation (GCSI)

July 18 – 21, 2018 Hsinchu, Taiwan Web: http://www.i-sim.org/icsi2018 e-mail: icsi2018@i-sim.org or icsi2018@systematic-innovation.org

Co-organizers International Society of Innovation … Read More

#-Shaped People

Darrell Mann

I was having a discussion the other day about ‘T’-shaped and ‘pi’-shaped people. Later on, we also discovered there were also ‘comb’-shaped people, although I’m not sure how well the metaphorical interpretation works. Maybe ‘m’-shaped or ‘rake’-shaped would’ve … Read More

Chief Contradiction Officer

Darrell Mann

Back in December, we reviewed the book, ‘Dealing With Dilemmas’. The book represents one of the first serious attempts to examine enterprises, and more specifically the management of enterprises through the lens of contradiction. Author, Frank Buytendijk, identified … Read More

Wow In Music – Marquee Moon

Darrell Mann

They were the first band to call the infamous CBGB in Lower Manhattan home and ignited the New York punk scene, but it took about three years for Television to release an album.

Several CBGB peers beat them … Read More

Principle 3 Deep Dive

Darrell Mann

A couple of months ago we did an analysis on the case studies we’ve been involved with during the past few years. Projects that have either been our own, or ones where a client has asked us to … Read More

Worst Of 2017 Awards

Darrell Mann

Finding bad things to write about increasingly feels like shooting large fish in small barrels with large Howitzers. That said, 2017 felt a bit like a year of flux. The focus of the rubbish-ness is shifting. Customer service … Read More

Re-Thinking Physical Contradictions #1: Technical Problems

Darrell Mann

The least well evolved of all the TRIZ tools feels more and more like the Physical Contradiction story. The more time and energy we devote to updating the Contradiction Matrix tool, the more the Physical Contradiction part seems … Read More

Investments – Bio-Ink

Darrell Mann

Printed replacement human body parts might seem like science fiction, but this technology is rapidly becoming a reality with the potential to greatly contribute to regenerative medicine. Before any real applications, “bioprinting” still faces many technical challenges. Processing … Read More

Evolution Potential Hierarchies

Darrell Mann

Although widely established as a means of analyzing the maturity of a system, and for guiding the generation of future evolution direction ideas, there continues to be confusion over how to get the best out of the Evolution … Read More

COBRA+

Darrell Mann

Every business problem is inherently complex. And inherently needs to address intangible ‘emotion’ issues. Solving complex problems necessitates getting the problem back to a first principles level. The overall TRIZ, Systematic Innovation and TrenDNA processes are intended to … Read More

Case Study: B2B Intangibles

Darrell Mann

Everyone involved in the Business-to-Consumer world is at least beginning to understand the importance of designing for the unspoken intangible outcomes customers are looking for. A lot of times those in the B2B world still don’t get it. … Read More

The Lessons Of History

Darrell Mann

So, we travel back to 1969 for our selection this month and the work of genius that is Pullitzer Prize winning Will and Ariel Durant’s masterwork, ‘The Lessons Of History’. Well, actually, their official masterwork is the lifelong … Read More

The Morality Of Toast

Darrell Mann

I’ve known it for a while, of course. The main job of conferences is to make me angry. Great for sparking some deeper thinking, not so great for my mental health. Which is why I have to limit … Read More

Generational Cycles – Solo Weddings

Darrell Mann

Laura Mesi spent £8,700 on her solo wedding, complete with white dress, wedding cake and 70 guests

We reap what we sow. Welcome to the West’s latest generational trend: solo weddings. Tell a child when they’re … Read More

I Want TRIZ To Be Easy And Difficult

Darrell Mann

I was reading ‘The Dumbest Generation’ (Reference 1) the other month. It’s about Generation Y. If the title suggests some kind of a sensationalist hatchet-job on the Millennials, it actually betrays the presence of some really quite deep … Read More