We all remember the well-known aphorism by Robert Atkins “Don’t fix what’s not broken.” The meaning is clear – do not change something that works well. Let’s take it to the next level as innovators and problem-solvers: “Don’t fix what’s broken.” Indeed, do we really need to fix something that is not working well? Why should not we fix what’s broken? Fixing something is the most expensive and the least productive process. The only goal of fixing the broken part is to get it back to where it was before, to return it to the previous state. Fixing is an…

The term Kaizen originated from Japan. The meaning of the word Kaizen is “change for the better.” Over time, Kaizen became one of the leading business philosophies and converted into a competitive strategy – continuous improvement. Both words are critical For a better chance to succeed with your business, you should implement Kaizen as a way of life. PRIZ Innovator & Kaizen PRIZ Innovator helps organizations to implement and adopt Kaizen. All Creative thinking tools that the Innovator offers are driving our thinking in a direction of better organizational performance. As we all know, time is the most expensive commodity….

The evolution of technical systems is governed by objective laws. This means that a modern cell phone, for example, looks and operates as it does not because of the creativity of the designer. Of course, Jony Ive is extremely talented and his work changed our world, he and his team didn’t have any other options but to create the iPhone the way they did. In this post, we will explain how can we predict the cellphone future with 9 Windows. The direction of system evolution The main direction of evolution is to satisfy customer needs. So, what is the main…

As we already discussed in one of our previous blogs (What is the problem?), the main issue in the problem-solving process is to identify the right problem and to separate between a failure and the actual problem. We should always be concentrating on problem-solving and not wasting the time on fixing the failure. As a quick reminder, a single failure can, and usually does cause several different problems.Some recommendations on how to define a problem statement described in the blog How to define a problem statement? The concept The concept is that failure can cause a wide variety of problems….

As problem solvers, we are typically surrounded by a “wall” of psychological inertia. This keeps us within the boundaries of the previous experience. In other words, psychological inertia always pushes a problem solver to “look for a lost wallet under a streetlight.” In this post, we want to show how problem-solving (or creative thinking) tools can help us break through this wall of psychological inertia. What are these problem-solving tools for? As mentioned above, problem-solving tools, or sometimes referred to as creative thinking tools, help us break through the “wall” of the psychological inertia and enter the field of new…

In the majority of cases, we don’t have the luxury to work on a single project. Our lives often force us to deal with several projects simultaneously. In this post, we will discuss the best way how to manage several projects simultaneously. The Problem Managing two or more projects simultaneously is a problem that can be solved using problem-solving (creative thinking) tools. Let’s zoom out and take a look at the whole picture, including the System, Subsystem, and Supersystem. Subsystem contains a part of the System, while Supersystem contains the System (as one of its parts).For example: If three is…

Read the news, blog posts, many articles, from companies and investors; the whole world is talking about innovations. Why do we need Innovation, and how does it impact a business anyway? In this article, we analyzed a business’s functional structure and shown that consistent (not occasional) Innovation & Problem-solving must be in place to ensure business success.  Business Functional Model We have already shown an example of Functional Modeling in our blogs “Take a customer’s function away to satisfy the customer“, and “A problem solver is the main roadblock in problem solving processes“. Functional Modeling is an analytical tool built…

As one might think, a problem solver is not a person who solved a lot of problems or continues solving one or two problems a day. Not at all. A problem solver is a person who thinks as a problem solver. In this post, we want to try and shed some light on how you can become a problem solver, and share some of my personal experiences of being a problem solver. Who is a problem solver? Because of the way the problem solver thinks, he can recognize a problem – he knows how it looks like. A problem-solver knows…

The systems we live with are not ideal; and, our lives are certainly not ideal. We all got problems that we have to solve every day. Even a decision to not solve the problem and leave it as-is is a type of problem-solving. We already published in one of our blogs, Where do problems come from? What generates a problem, and described where problems originate from. Types of problems There are generally two types of problems. Predictable problems For instance: low production yield, high level of defects.Predictable problems are typically solved slowly, scientifically by creating and completing projects bringing only…