My approach is freer.txt

Anatomy of Solving Problems Inventively
My approach to the design of the ontology is freer than TRIZ, which is rather circumscribed by the Marxist-Leninist philosophy of dialectic materialism, a purely political version of Hegel's equally restrictive development of dialectics (it sent him mad. Too much thinking, not enough doing). My simple analysis of the TRIZ matrix (often regarded as a plaything. Unfairly, I reckon) shows that it's at least 50% populated by trade-offs. That is to say, the so-called "contradiction" is symmetrical (shown by the IPs that are supposed to resolve the contradiction being symmetrical across the diagonal). Materialist thinking assumes that of the two partners in the dialectic, one is right and the other is wrong. In reality there is no such absolutism. In reality the presence and subsequent control or manipulation of a trade-off is expanding the range over which adaptation can roam, perhaps leading to speciation, or in the less romantic cases, to the ability to live in a wider range of more variable conditions. The IPs relevant to a trade-off do not give a solution to the contradiction. Instead they show how the trade-off can be controlled so that advantage can be gained over all the design space between the two ends. This space is traversed by the Pareto curve which maps the best performance possible at all stages within that design space.
From a commercial design perspective, this can immediately be equated with market segmentation. The IPs give you the variables that can be used to alter or adapt the trade-off to different working conditions without relinquishing the basic concept(s). So the utility is quite a bit greater than simply solving a problem. The trade-off, properly analysed, yields a means of definition that�s both specific and general and can therefore be fluid and adaptable whilst retaining the essential characteristics. Not only that, but it's a unique and powerful way of adding parameters to analogy, which leads to mathematical modelling and (I suspect) more reliable design that can easily be reproduced in a variety of conditions, contexts and materials. It's a tool for objective design!