We are all familiar with the thought of Outside the Box thinking and brainstorming. Methods that surprisingly are not all that productive. However, the alternative is something called TRIZ which to a sales and marketing guy, like me, seems way over complicated. A nice diagram and a simplified explanation of the process are contained in the book, Trizics: Teach yourself TRIZ, how to invent, innovate and solve “impossible” technical problems systematically. The Kindle book is a steal at $9.99, and the charts are just fine in the Kindle version.
Several years back (10 or more), I ran across a simplified version of TRIZ designed by Dr. Roni Horowitz that he called Advanced Systematic Inventive Thinking. You can find more information about the program at start2think.com (it is a somewhat outdated website). I have used this thinking and along with SCAMPER, a more simplified approach, for many years. It has proven to be very useful. The basis of the program is thinking inside the box versus outside the box.
This week, I happen to be listening to a new book, Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results, that is based on some of Dr. Horowitz work and others. After listening to the first chapter, I dug out my old mind map on ASIT and started reviewing. I think it will add quite a bit of depth to the audio. Not that I am selling books this week, but you can purchase the audio book for $4.49, which again is a steal. However, as I have listened to the book, I am not sure what I am missing by not having the hard copy. The resource page for the book is excellent.
My mind map from the Dr. Horowitz’s course:
P.S. If you are unfamiliar with SCAMPER a blog post you can reference: Tips to Starting a Cost Reduction Plan
