Genrich Altshuller's
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TSIP or TRIZ)

Synopsis [1]

Genrich Altshuller set out a method of systematically approaching the task of inventiveness. He aimed this work at the engineer but noted that the principles can be transposed to the organization of creative thinking in any sphere of human activity.


He notes that people have been inventive for a long time but that the technique which has ben employed was that of selecting variants (.. what if we do this ..). This way of approaching problem solving is dependent really on a multitude of fortuitous factors which are difficult to comprehend or control.


He notes that people have been inventive for a long time but that the technique which has been employed was that of selecting variants (.. what if we do this ..). This way of approaching problem solving is dependent really on a multitude of fortuitous factors which are difficult to comprehend or control.


He sets out the historical development of problem solving techniques and proposes a method which is founded on a step-by-step analysis of a problem to break it down into simple essential parts and identifying the technical contradictions. These contradictions are resolved by testing forty basic methods to change variants and ten classes of solutions of more complex problems. An example of a basic method is the "Go Between" Principle which introduces an intermediate object to transmit an action.  An example of a class of solutions is to introduce an additive to expose a difficult to see object.


As a personal motivation, Altshuller observes "[w]hat can be more alluring than the discovery of the nature of talented thought and converting this talented thinking from occasional and fleeting flashes into a powerful and controllable fire of knowledge".

Brief Biography [2, 3]

Genrich Saulovich Altshuller, was born on the 15th of October 1926 in Taskent, then the capital of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His family moved to Baku in Azerbaijan in 1931.


He showed an inventive nature while still in high school and graduated with honours. He then enrolled in the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute but  in 1944 he enlisted in the Army. The war ended before he was ready to take part in combat operations and he was then assigned to the Commission on Innovations of the Caspian Navy Flotilla. There he developed the idea that there were principles behind inventiveness and he set out in 1946 to uncover these and began teaching these principles in 1948.


From 1948 to 1954 he was sentenced to twenty five years in a labour camp for what was perceived as criticism of the state but continued his education in the evenings, being taught by academics who were also interned. He was released in 1955, as a part of the reforms after Joseph Stalin's death, and returned to Baku.


In 1956 he published his first paper, co-authored with Rafail Shapiro, entitled "On the Psychology of inventiveness". In 1957-1959 he worked in the Ministry of Construction of Azerbaijan and in 1958, held the first ever seminar on TRIZ. He continued to develop the theories underpinning TRIZ, set up schools and courses on it, and publishing numerous books on the topic.

References

[1] G.S. Altshuller
      Creativity as an Exact Science -
      The Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems
      Translated from the Russian by Anthony Williams
      Gordon and Breach Scientific Publishers Inc., 1984
      ISBN-10: 0677212305


[2] Google Translation from Russian to English of Genrich Altshuller's biography


[3] Victor Fey and Eugene Rivin
      Innovation on Demand: New Product Development Using TRIZ,
      Appendix 1
      Cambridge University Press, 2005
      ISBN-10: 0521826209