1 / 27

Skills and Tools to Support Productivity in Creative Work

Skills and Tools to Support Productivity in Creative Work. Valeri Souchkov ICG Training & Consulting Enschede The Netherlands. Sources for Innovation. Forecasts. Insight. Analogy. New market demands. INNOVATION. Market studies. Problems, Troubleshooting. New scientific

cooper-burke
Download Presentation

Skills and Tools to Support Productivity in Creative Work

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Skills and Tools to Support Productivity in Creative Work Valeri Souchkov ICG Training & Consulting EnschedeThe Netherlands

  2. Sources for Innovation Forecasts Insight Analogy New market demands INNOVATION Market studies Problems, Troubleshooting New scientific discoveries and findings TechnologyDiversification

  3. Obstacles • Lack of transparent overall methodology: Innovation is often confused with purely economic methods for new product development and marketing • Lack of innovative culture across entire organization: New products/technology creation is often addressed to R&D only • Lack of a process/workflow model: Despite the number of existing methods supporting innovation, there is no clear pathway of how to realize and manage innovation • Lack of proper idea management: Still, trials & errors • Lack of knowledge management: 70-80% of knowledge generated during innovation sessions are forgotten and lost • Lack of measuring results: Often, an effect from the use of innovation methodologies is neglected • Lack of overall innovation management: Responsibilities are shared in most cases

  4. Formal vs. Informal Role of human involvement Degree of automation Creativity Invention R&D Design Manufacturing Degree of Formalization

  5. Problems and solutions Availability of Problem solving method Form of solution Standard Problems: solution method is known and applicable Non-standard Problems: Solution method is unknown or inapplicable Informal solutions (ideas, concepts, mind maps) Formal solutions: Numerically calculated presentations Poorly supported with systematic methods before TRIZ

  6. Why difficult? • Problems are difficult due to: • Strong mental inertia which prevents us from thinking “out of the box” • Lack of problem solving strategy • The needed knowledge to solve a problem can be outside of our specific domain of knowledge • To solve a difficult problem, it is always necessary to generate many alternatives with trial & errors method • What problem to solve?...

  7. Psychological Inertia Ideal Solutions (benefits/costs) Acceptable Solutions Solution Space

  8. Divergent thinking (avoid constraints) Solution Search space Search space Types of Thinking Convergent thinking (avoid constraints and use navigation) Solution Search space Search space

  9. Methods to boost idea generation Random Methods Systematic Methods • Brainstorm • Synectics • Reframing • Lateral thinking • … Morphological Matrix Attribute Listing Technology/Service maps TRIZ … Specific information-independent Heavily rely on human cognitive capabilities Criteria of evaluation are not included to the methods Operate with specific information Little dependence on cognitive capabilities Re-use of past experience Use metaphorical approach

  10. How to improve? • A major shortcoming of all non-systematic methods: • Random search for new solution concepts • Immediate implication: • As a result, low ratio “Useful ideas / Useless Ideas”. • Question: How to increase innovative productivity? • Answer: By using blend of convergent and divergent thinking. • TRIZ is a blend of systematic approach to solving inventive problems and psychological operators to improve a process of producing innovative ideas.

  11. Foundations of TRIZ Genrich Altshuller (1926-1999) 400.000 inventions (more than 1.5 mln. by today) • 98% of inventions use some known solution principle • Only 2% are pioneering inventions • Inventors use patterns without awareness • Innovation can be organized in a systematic way

  12. TRIZ • TRIZ: A Theory of Inventive Problem Solving(abbreviated in Russian) • Result of 40 years of research of more than 300 people (and still evolving) • TRIZ makes innovation systematic while preserving a capability to freely use human creativity. • TRIZdoes not replace traditional method for innovation, it adds value to the existing methods and practices • Since TRIZ has been brought outside of the ex-USSR in 1990th, it is today recognized by several world-leading organizations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Mitsubishi as the best practice of innovation

  13. Application Areas Map, analyze, decompose and structure complex problem situations Solve a specific immediate problem SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION & TRIZ Innovatively optimize a technology/product Solve business & management conflicts Generate new business concepts and optimize existing business systems Forecast future technology/product evolution

  14. Systematic Innovation Psychological Techniques • Creative Imagination Development • Techniques for generating ideas Analytical Tools Knowledge Bases • Root Conflict Analysis • Function Analysis • Evolution Potential Analysis • Algorithm of Inventive Problem Solving (ARIZ) • Inventive Principles • Inventive Standards • Databases of Effects Theory and Trends of Evolution TRIZ-SI • S-curve of Evolution • Wave-curve of Evolution • Ideality • Laws and Trends of Evolution • Functional Idealization Non-Technical TRIZ • TRIZ for Business and • Management • TRIZ for Marketing & PR Evaluation Techniques • Comparative Ranking • Multicriteria Decision Matrix

  15. Effectiveness • Is TRIZ effective? • Samsung: Single project: Euro 1 billion costs savings (and named “The best practice of innovation”). • Boeing: Single project: US 1.5 billion extra earnings. • P&G: New product ideas pass through TRIZ expertise. Two groups of equally experienced engineers tried to solve the same problem within a limited time interval

  16. TRIZ Philosophy • Systems evolves through elimination of contradictions • Problems are be represented in terms of contradictions that must be eliminated to come up with breakthrough solutions. • Evolution of systems is a systematic process • A number of regularities exist which govern the technology evolution. The regularities are generic over various domains. • Previous experience can be studied and re-used • By studying previous experience of creative work it is possible to learn how to use this experience in a systematic way to solve new problems. • New inventive problems are hardly formulated correctly • A task is to build the most correct problem formulation. • Successful problem solving requires a blend of generic thinking and specific knowledge

  17. Contradictions • Evolution of any system is a stepwise elimination of contradictions (conflicts). • Contradictions arise: • When we reach a barrier imposed by the existing principle behind a system; the more stronger the barrier is, the more difficult a problem is. • When we know how to solve the problem, but a solution method is inapplicable due to negative effects arising from its implementation. • Systematic Innovation provides tools to resolve contradictions and further evolve systems.

  18. Problem Solving Process SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION KNOWLEDGE BASES PROBLEM MODEL SOLUTION MODEL SPECIFIC IDEA GENERATION ANALYTICAL METHODS & TECHNIQUES SPECIFIC PROBLEM SPECIFIC SOLUTION TRIALS & ERRORS SEARCH SPACE

  19. Evolution Model • Three phases of system evolution: S-Curve of Evolution:Degree of the system’s performance (main function) Wave of Evolution: Expenses to deliver function (mass, energy, materials, information) Time A system is born. Expansion Mature system. Convolution (Ideality growth) Creating Functionality Preserving Functionality Adding Functionality

  20. Sound recording evolution Overall Performance • Digital optical recording High durability of recording • Digital magnetic recording Noise is no more vs. low durability of recording when exposed to magnetic fields and costs • Magnetic tape for recording Expanded frequency range vs. high noise level • Steel wire for recording Possibility to rewrite information vs. low quality due to short frequency range • LP recording Durability vs. inability to rewrite recorded sound • Wax drum for recording Recording is made possible vs low durability / quality of recording Time

  21. Ingredients Knowledge Bases Analytical Logic SystematicInnovation Philosophy and methodology of innovative problem solving

  22. Management Tasks • Idea management: development of organization-specific methods for managing idea generation processes. • Product development management: realization of ideas in form of commercial products and technologies. • Environmental Innovation management: constant monitoring and “scanning” of the environment in which an organization operates in order to forecast future innovations. • Enterprise-wide "Outside-the-box" innovation management: creation of organizational culture that stimulates creative thinking. • Innovation life-cycle management: coordinating the entire innovation life cycle from the envisioning stage through to measuring results and rewarding of individual innovators or innovation workgroups.

  23. Role of IT? • Knowledge overflow problem • Knowledge search problem • “Lost” knowledge problem • Miscommunication problem • “Invisibility” problem: where we are, what was done, what should be done with respect to a particular task • Lack of Technology Intelligence • Lack of metrics to measure success of innovation over the whole innovation life-cycle

  24. Enterprise IT infrastructure External Sources … Idea Management Situation Mapping Specialists External Knowledge Repository Core Team Experts Communication Environment Internal Knowledge Repository Decision Makers Suppliers Data & Knowledge Bases Retailers Process Manager Supporting Methods & Tools IT support for Innovation

  25. Infrastructure for Innovation Management: Innovation Manager Internal and External Knowledge Sources: Databases, Science & Technology companies Consulting companies, R&D centers, Universities, etc. Core Innovation Team:Methods, techniques and tools for Systematic Innovation, Consulting & Training Platform Innovation Infrastructure IT Support for Life-Cycle Innovation Management: IT platform for knowledge gathering, storage and exchange; communication, knowledge and process management; decision making; bridge to other infrastructure components

  26. Conclusions • Role of “thinkers” will grow in the knowledge-based economy, despite further evolution of IT tools • Innovation Manager should be responsible for the overall innovation life-cycle • Core innovation competence teams should be a major driving force behind creating an innovation system of an organization • An IT support, combining knowledge and process management should solve problems of knowledge overflow, as well as external/internal communications

  27. More information • ICG Training & Consulting (Enschede, The Netherlands) • www.xtriz.cominfo@xtriz.com • Phone: +31-53-4342884 / +31-6-20423455 • The European TRIZ Association • www.etria.net • Alltshuller Institute (USA) • www.aitriz.org

More Related