My introduction to TRIZ was through a local training workshop. As an exercise, the trainer asked us to form into groups and design a new power strip (extension lead, power socket, etc.) using the contradiction matrix.
The problem in this case was simple, "identify limitations of the current straight inline design and create a new and improved design that we can sell as a product!". Remarkably, each group were able to come up with at least 3 or 4 new designs in one hour that was genuinely useful. In my case, we came up with a "squid"-like design not too different from this:
Some groups came up with rotating designs:
Of course, after a frenzy of discussions on how we're going to be millionaires selling these products did the trainer revealed that what we came up with were already in the market, hence the images you see above. But the point was that most of us selected inventive principle number 1 "Segmentation" as a starting point to create these designs.
By identifying and choosing to focus on this as a basis for brainstorming, we've created multiple designs which does have the potential to be sold as a finished product. As an extra bonus, the exercise also taught me that usually the problem I'm trying to solve has already been solved by someone else somewhere. So I could just look at how other people solve similar problems before and innovate on top of it (maybe by imagining the Ideal Final Result) to come up with my own patentable twist. Just like this:
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