Innovation and Contradictions

To innovate you need a problem, this must be a real problem. An invention should be a contradiction, it should make a solution, without adding difficulty! Anything else is not an invention.
If it increases complexity while solving the problem it does not count as a pure innovation. It may be an improvement at a higher cost, but where is the innovation in that?
In brief, only when your solution solves a contradiction can you resolve competing requirements. And competing requirements lie at the heart of problems.

A contradiction is a simple clash of solutions. Either we want opposite solutions, or by introducing a new solution, i.e. an improving change to one feature in a system, another feature in our system has got worse. Engineers recognize contradictions as familiar situations, such as when we improve strength by adding more material we find that this solution often makes weight get worse. Contradictions can also be the need for opposite benefits which are achieved with opposite features or functions – an everyday item such as an umbrella has the benefits of being both large and small. there are many situations of wanting opposites such as white and black – TRIZ shows us all the way to achieve such opposite benefits. – Excerpt taken from TRIZ for Engineers by Karen Gadd

The classic example is a straight versus a curved shower bar to hold up a shower curtain. This solves a space problem by changing the shape of the bar, even though the distance between the wall remains the same, now you can have a bigger shower curtain.
This is how you resolve competing priorities. And there is a process for it. And this process is the TRIZ methodology. Deciding to solve problems without making something else in the system worse is a start, this will enable you to drive innovation at a low cost.
In future posts, we will discuss more on how to resolve contradictions, and how to ensure you are working on what truly matters to you.
Do you have problems and no budget for expensive builds? Do you need software solutions for your problems and cannot conceptualize how to solve them? Reach out to us at info@shootfish.xyz