5. TRIZ fundamentals in detail

5.1 Contradiction

Basically, a contradiction is an opposition between two characteristics of an object under study. Depending on whether we are observing the relationship between the system under study and society, or internal oppositions within the system, these characteristics give rise to contradictions at different levels of descriptive precision. Three levels of contradiction appear clearly in reference works on the subject: administrative, technical and physical.

The administrative contradiction doesn't reveal any obvious contradictory aspects, and often reflects the initial state of description of a desire for improvement, without any envisaged direction of resolution emerging. The template for formulating such a contradiction is: "I'd like to [describe...