Ask the Design Thinking Doc - Be an idea Ninja

Creativity is elusive when you want it the most. When we asked in a classroom “Who is the most creative person that you know?”. None of them said it was themselves. Because all of us think we don’t have in us what it takes to be creative. So, how does one become more creative? Even better, how does one become a Ninja in creativity? I wake you up in the middle of your sleep and still you are able to generate ideas just like that. How is this possible?

Design Thinking, as a skill, can be learnt by practicing the methodology on real world problems. I run an online course on Design Thinking on a Govt. of India platform called SWAYAM where close to 40,000 learners have learnt Design Thinking already.

What I have got in return (apart from lots of love 😍) is the variety of questions that have been asked by so many curious learners. This Ask the DT Doc series can be helpful to anyone – a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner of Design Thinking. (Also checkout https://dt.balaramadurai.net for the book on Design Thinking)

This post will cover the question “Genrich Altsheller’s 40 inventive principles and 76 stan[d]ard solutions”

Question

Dear Sir, It was very very awesome while seeing and applying those inventive principles 10, 11, 13. I would like to see, learn, apply and use all those 40 inventive principles and 76 standard solutions (by Genrich Altsheller).

Can I know from where I can get those things? Or could you please share/prescribe me some books/contents? Or any webpage links?

Thank you so much sir.

Source - https://groups.google.com/a/nptel.iitm.ac.in/g/noc19-mg60-discuss/c/lNFgXO_Eqnk/m/vwO1lCzTBAAJ

My Response

Thank you for your question and interest in this wonderful methodology called TRIZ.

you can start here - https://the-trizjournal.com

If you are interested in learning about the inventive principles - here is a link from the TRIZ Journal - https://the-trizjournal.com/40-inventive-principles-examples/.

These are patterns of thinking that will help us and gives us the triggers that we might need to think of other ideas.

However, a word of caution:

Before acquiring great power, you need to perform your responsibility.

Analyze the problem well and understand the problem in its entirety. Then proceed to applying the inventive principles to your problem.

Summary

In summary, inventive principles give you a great glimpse into various ways of generating ideas. However, keep in mind to analyze the problem first before jumping to the next best and shiny solution.

Picture Source - https://media.sketchfab.com/models/f485934b51244674b5b567e03098f06b/thumbnails/