Abstraction

For most of us, innovation and invention have always been enigmatic.  We have thought that this is the domain of genius who spent most of their time thinking in some attic in the middle of nowhere.  Reality is a lot of our inventions are merely responses to everyday problems that needed to be solved.  Somehow, these inventors got to look at the problem from a different perspective and thus a solution was generated.  In the Russian Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, TRIZ, an important tool for looking at a problem is Abstraction. This is to look at a problem from the general physical principle that governs it and from that derive a solution.  It is based on the premise that problems have most likely been solved by another person in another context.  As an example,  problems in Tartar removal in Dental care have likely been solved in the area of Paint and Stain removal in Construction.  The flow of abstraction is simple as shown in the diagram below.  May this spark the innovative genius in you!