INTRIZ: TRIZ for intangibles

TRIZ is a powerful problem-solving framework developed for engineering. It works by cataloguing the contradictions that appear repeatedly in physical systems and providing proven patterns for resolving them.

The question here is whether the same approach works for intangible systems such as services, organisations, information flows and human relationships. These have their own recurring contradictions: the tension between standardisation and personalisation, between responsiveness and efficiency, between autonomy and coordination.

Early work involved mapping known service design and organisational design problems to see whether TRIZ-like contradiction patterns emerged. The answer was a provisional yes, but the catalogue building is slow. Paused while other work took priority.