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Systematic Innovation
Rough Course Outline (2 and 3 Day)
Updated 04/10/07

C2C Solutions will customize this course agenda to fit our client’s objectives.  The following represents a rough outline for our 2 and 3-Day Systematic Innovation Workshop.  The main difference between the 2 and 3 day Workshop is the level of detail discussed and the amount of “workshops” that are integrated.  This agenda may be adjusted to fit our clients needs.

  • Introductions / Course Objectives
    • Opening Comments, Introductions, Logistics
    • High Level Description of 25+ Techniques to be discussed
    • Importance of Innovation
    • Innovation Defined
    • Brief intro to TRIZ main concepts
    • 8 Barriers to Innovation - Risk (Real and Perceived), Psychological Inertia (Paradigm Paralysis), Project Constraints, Lack of Knowledge, Conflicts or Contradictions, Large Ego’s, Unpredictable Future, Solving the “Wrong Problems", and the power of Functional Thinking with Examples
  • 25+ Technological and Psychological Methods for Innovation, Concept Generation, and Problem Solving (There are over 300 pages of Course Material explaining the "how-to's" of each of the items below.)
    • Abnormal  or Unexpected Uses – Watching through Ethnographic Research for those “unique” Customer’s who use the product in ways not intended. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Brain-Writing 6-3-5 A simple, yet powerful technique for idea generation similar to Classic Brainstorming, but uses an effective non-verbal process to draw out the active participation the whole group, especially the “less verbal” team members and builds on others ideas. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Biomimicry – Looking to Nature for inspiration and ways to deal with your problem.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Can’t fix it, Feature it! – A little Reverse Psychology may go a long way.
    • Classic Brainstorming – Use the best “Rules” of Brainstorming for interesting ideas.
    • Customer Modifications – Learn how to generate great ideas by learning and watching how clever Customer’s have solved problems for themselves through modifying the product they purchased.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)

    • DeBono’s Techniques – Different Thinking styles.  The basics of the 6 Hats and more.
    • Early Adapters / Lead Users – First to use or experts in the product can often add considerable insight to a next generation offering.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Feature Transfer – To transfer the best of alternative systems into a single concept.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Function Analysis/Modeling A structured method of formulating “Engineering Situations” for optimum solvability. Describing your situation in a 'functional language' for optimum solvability and creativity. This process helps clarify any complicated situation by describing the functions (events), the cause-and-effect relationships, and client's and customers attitude to various events. This process helps to reveal the root causes of undesirable effects and inherent contradictions that appear to have made the situation problematic. Topics discussed include Function Modeling Goals and Steps, Function Modeling Elements, Building a Function Model, The FAST Diagram, The “Trimming Technique”, Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Future Mapping - A rigorous process of revealing and developing future products through the understanding of the Ideal Vision then the revealing of step-by-step functional changes to the current product description.
    • Having the “Right” People – Have a good group of the “Right” players for best results.
    • Holistic Cube - This innovative approach reminds innovators not to focus exclusively on the system / process / problem at hand, but consider the situation / challenge from 11 interrelated points of view. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Ideality and the Ideal System - This mindset and approach aims at discovering what customers will wish for tomorrow so that company can align its resources on innovations that will keep them ahead of marketplace trends.  Strategies to approach the Ideal System will be discussed. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • 40 Inventive Principles – A TRIZ method for dealing with “Technical Contradictions” in Product and Process Development. Definitions, discussion on how Engineers typically deal with Technical Conflicts, the TC to PC conversion, Altshuller’s Contradiction Matrix on how to deal with over 1200 common conflicts, the 39 Parameters, the 40 inventive principles, the algorithm for using the matrix, examples, etc.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Knowledge Mining – The use of linguistic algorithms for advanced semantic research of internet, computers, and local Knowledge Bases.
    • Lateral Benchmarking – Looking outside your industry to similar products and services that don’t compete with your offering for inspiration and ideas. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Morphological Tables – The use of a matrix to develop an array of alternatives.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • The MSE Effect – Involve as many as 7 Senses to create a “Memorable Sensory Experience”.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Painstorming – Necessity is the Mother of Invention and 'Pain-points' are the Father. Through special research, the team identifies and developes countermeasures to 5 categories of Customer 'pain-points'.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Pagoda Effect – Sometimes “getting lucky” will pay off, hard to count on though.
    • Patent Analysis – Leverage the Information Age and the Intellectual Property of the Worldwide Patent Offices.
    • Patterns of System Evolution – Learn over 20 “Patterns” engineering systems often follow as they evolve. – Historical Technology Trends and patterns are useful to extrapolate likely future evolutions.  These patterns are useful in solving engineering problems, as well as, “predicting” where your technology is heading.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Pugh Concept Selection – An objective approach to converge on the best concept amongst your ideas.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Scope Expansion – A set of techniques that focuses on having your product take upon itself one or more functions from other products or events in its environment. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Scientific Effects An impressive electronic knowledgebase of over 9000 cross industry and cross discipline scientific phenomenon.
    • Separation Principles – 4 clever TRIZ techniques to deal with Physical Conflicts or Contradictions (mutually exclusive requirements). Definition, how engineers typically deal with Physical Conflicts, The TC to PC conversion and vise-versa, the 4 Separation Principles, etc.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Simple Synectics – Idea generation using unrelated stimuli.
    • Super Lateral Benchmarking Look at, and integrate, the best things humans have done that appear to be that are completely unrelated to your business.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Trend Analysis – Understanding Important Industry, Product, and Societal Trends and discover how your offering can impact, adapt, and possibly compliment these trends. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • The Trimming Technique Use 6 powerful rules and algorithms for cost reduction, Complexity Reduction, and new market opportunities. This technique helps the problem solver foster innovative thinking and results by deliberately eliminating elements and or components in a system which surfaces unique challenges that often lead to innovative offerings. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • Time Savings  – Save your Customers time and they will appreciate it with increased market share. Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
    • TRIZ - A uniquely powerful set of Systematic Innovation methodologies tools that contains several of the methods in this list (Separation Principles, Inventive Principles, Use of Resources, Ideality, and the Patterns of Evolution).
    • Use of Resources – Search “inside the box” for solutions to the problem.  Utilization of "free" or inexpensive resources in the system or super-system area to improve the Ideality of the system and/or speed up the next generation development.  Five resource categories will be discussed with examples.  (Optional) Workshops.
    • Unexpected Uses – Watch customers for “unique” uses or applications of the product.  Group Exercise/Workshop (Optional)
  • (Optional) Demonstration of State-of-the-Art Innovation Software – Demonstration, explanation, Case Study, and “Hands on” interactive activities using software.  See how a leading software for Innovation helps to automate the Innovation Process.  These software tools have their roots in TRIZ, Value Engineering, and Advanced Semantic Analysis using Linguistic Algorithms.
    • Product and Process Function Analysis - Automate the Function Analysis & Modeling of Engineering Systems, Sub-systems, or components. Helps to model & analyzes a product/system by defining component functions, evaluating "functional" interactions, & proposing ways to increase the "Value" of the system.
    • Competitive Benchmarking using the Worlds Patent Offices
    • Animated Scientific Knowledgebase of Scientific Phenomenon and Engineering Examples organized into Functional Folders.  Over 9,000 animated Scientific Effects and Engineering Examples are available.
    • System Modification Patterns - Leverage Technology Trends to accelerate the advancement of your Engineering Systems.
    • Use Altshuller's Contradiction Matrix for Engineering Conflicts.
    • Advanced Worldwide Patent Analysis
      • United States, Japanese, European, Ireland, United Kingdom and the World International Property Organization.
    • Advanced Deep Web Knowledge Mining and Extraction - Patented Semantic Processing software reads and understands the essence of any electronic-text English document.  This software “reads” the documents looking for topics, problems, & solutions (concepts) discussed, and then it automatically builds a knowledge base organizing the found knowledge with hypertext links to all source documents.
    • Case Study Examples (Optional)
  • Integrating Systematic Innovation methods with other Leading DFSS Methods.
    • Learn an integrated DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) approach to developing world class Products and Services (The Concept to Customer Roadmap)

Click for a 1 page Roadmap of the C2C Process

  • Custom Group Workshops on "Real" Projects (Optional)
    • If time permits, or is designed into the Course Agenda, Attendees may break up into teams to work on real projects. (Optional)
    • Innovation Software may be temporarily loaded to individuals’ workstations for group projects.
    • Group Presentations of progress. (Optional)
  •  Keys to Success for fostering a Culture of Innovation
    • Concept Evaluation, Synthesis, and Selection
      • Pugh's Concept Selection
      • Robust Decision Making with Accord TM  (Optional)
    • 5 Keys to successful “Innovation”
      • The “Right” Atmosphere
      • The “Right” People
      • The "Right" Projects
      • Maintaining Momentum
      • Leadership Responsibilities
  • Wrap-up and Adjourn

Learn more about C2C Solutions Systematic Innovation - TRIZ here!

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Rough Course Outline

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