One of the things that makes TRIZ so powerful is that it has grown to encapsulate a high level philosophical view of the world. In this regard, TRIZ is not unique. This paper will examine two other meta-level worldviews in order to explore some of their similarities and differences with TRIZ. The first of the two is the ‘Metaphysics of Quality’ originated by best-selling author of ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ and ‘Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals’ Robert M Pirsig; the second is the (currently rather less well known) Fundamental Design Method (FDM) developed over the course of a forty period from the 1950s to the 1990s by Edward Matchett.

In describing Pirsig’s concept of Dynamic Quality and Matchett’s ‘5M’ equation and the concept of ‘Making Media plus Matter Meaningful in the Moment’, the paper suggests that even though neither appears at first glance to be compatible with high-level TRIZ concepts like Ideality, Contradiction and System Completeness, it is in fact possible to construct a model consistent with and containing all three.

Of particular interest to the TRIZ community, the paper sets out to detail this new model. In so doing highlight important concepts and ideas that are not presently found within the TRIZ framework are revealed that should enable considerable enhancement to the way TRIZ should be viewed and, more importantly, used.

Darrell Mann
Director, Systematic Innovation Ltd, UK
Phone: +44 (1275) 337500
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Following a fifteen year spell working in aerospace R&D, since 1995, Darrell has researched, taught and consulted in the field of innovation. With over 600 systematic innovation-related papers, patents and articles to his name he is now one of the most widely published authors on the innovation subject in the world. Darrell consults with a range of government bodies, MNCs and corporations around the world. Averaging around 25 days per month on the road, Darrell has an average velocity of 30mph and an average altitude of around 200 feet.