Protocol
Force combinations across dimensions to surface new options
Combination is where the box starts doing work.
When it fits
- The morphological box exists but the team keeps selecting only familiar combinations.
When to avoid it
- Combinatorial novelty is not value. Feasibility, evidence and user need still decide what deserves a test.
Why it matters
Sample combinations across the dimensions, including some that would not arise from intuition. For each combination, ask whether it is coherent, what new mechanism it creates and which constraint it violates. Keep surprising feasible combinations for deeper design.
Steps
- At least one retained option could not have been described as a minor variant of the current solution.
An example
Asynchronous practice + immediate machine feedback + peer review only on failed attempts may reveal a lower-cost coaching model.
Check your result
At least one retained option could not have been described as a minor variant of the current solution.
Keep this limit in mind
- Combinatorial novelty is not value. Feasibility, evidence and user need still decide what deserves a test.
Connected ideas
Use beforePrune impossible combinations before judging attractive ones
Evidence and sources
General Morphological Analysis structures a multidimensional, often non-quantifiable problem space by defining parameters and investigating combinations and relationships among parameter states.
Morphological analysis structures a conceptual space; it is not a causal model and can still omit important dimensions or options.
Problem structuring using computer-aided morphological analysis · Abstract and method description