Protocol
Use inventive principles after the contradiction is clear
A creativity prompt works better when it is aimed at a named conflict.
When it fits
- The team wants idea prompts but brainstorming keeps producing random variations.
When to avoid it
- The 40 principles are heuristic prompts derived from TRIZ practice, not a guarantee that one listed principle contains the answer.
Why it matters
First state the technical or physical contradiction. Then use one or more TRIZ inventive principles as prompts for mechanisms—segmentation, prior action, local quality, periodic action and others—without treating the principle name as the solution. Translate each promising prompt into a concrete concept and test it against both sides of the contradiction.
Steps
- Write the contradiction before opening a principle list.
- Select a small set of relevant principle prompts.
- Generate a concrete mechanism for each prompt.
- Test whether the concept improves the desired parameter without recreating the original harm.
- Discard clever-sounding concepts that do not resolve the stated conflict.
An example
For throughput versus error exposure, segmentation may suggest smaller independent batches rather than one large compromise batch.
Check your result
Each retained concept can explain how it changes the mechanism behind the contradiction.
Keep this limit in mind
- The 40 principles are heuristic prompts derived from TRIZ practice, not a guarantee that one listed principle contains the answer.
Connected ideas
Use beforeCheck what the solution does to neighboring systems
Evidence and sources
TRIZ's 40 inventive principles are generic solution prompts intended for resolving technical contradictions rather than final implementations.
A principle is a prompt for concept generation; feasibility and effectiveness still require engineering or domain validation.
40 Principles · Purpose of the 40 Principles
The 2025 TRIZ process-improvement review concludes that technical contradiction with inventive principles is comparatively accessible, while more complex problems may benefit from algorithms or frameworks using advanced TRIZ tools.
This is the review authors' synthesis of heterogeneous literature, not a controlled head-to-head trial of tools.
Tools of Theory of Inventive Problem Solving Used for Process Improvement—A Systematic Literature Review · Abstract conclusion