Protocol
Map which component performs which function on what
Architecture boxes tell you what exists. Function links tell you what the boxes are doing to each other.
When it fits
- A system diagram shows components but does not explain why each component exists or how it helps or harms another.
When to avoid it
- Function labels are analytical judgments; verify harmful or insufficient interactions with evidence before redesigning the system.
Why it matters
For the relevant components, write subject–function–object links: component A does function F to component B. Mark each interaction as useful, harmful, insufficient or excessive for the current objective. This exposes unnecessary actors, weak functions and harmful interactions that a component inventory hides.
Steps
- Every important component can be justified by a function or identified as a candidate for change or removal.
An example
A validation job checks records before import (useful) but also serializes all processing through one worker (possibly excessive constraint).
Check your result
Every important component can be justified by a function or identified as a candidate for change or removal.
Keep this limit in mind
- Function labels are analytical judgments; verify harmful or insufficient interactions with evidence before redesigning the system.
Connected ideas
Useful withTrim a component and reassign its useful function
Evidence and sources
The TRIZ Body of Knowledge includes function analysis and trimming as system-analysis methods, and the 2025 systematic review identifies both among tools used in process-improvement work.
The literature is heterogeneous and often case-based; the card does not claim a universal effect size.
Tools of Theory of Inventive Problem Solving Used for Process Improvement—A Systematic Literature Review · Tool categories and process-improvement case literature