Book Review: "Directed Evolution: Philosophy, Theory and
Practice."
Reviewed by Ellen Domb,
Title: “Directed Evolution: Philosophy, Theory and Practice.”
Authors: Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman, edited by Victoria Roza
Details: 103 pages, some in color. Soft cover. US$70.
Published by Ideation International Inc., www.ideationtriz.com
Alla Zusman and Boris Zlotin introduced their new book, Directed
Evolution: Philosophy, Theory, and Practice, at TRIZCON2001, the March
meeting of the Altshuller Institute. This book makes many of the concepts of
directed evolution as taught by Zusman and Zlotin available for the first time
to those who have not been able to attend the TRIZCON tutorials. Many of the
concepts which were introduced conceptually in 1999 in their book TRIZ in
Progress are presented in more didactic fashion here. The reader will
need TRIZ in Progress to make effective use of Directed
Evolution, since many of the assumptions and postulates that are used
are listed in detail in the earlier book and not repeated here.
“Directed Evolution” is the name that Zlotin and Zusman have chosen for
their extension of the TRIZ technology forecasting methodology, and it
encompasses both the theory and the application of the theory to understanding
the path by which any particular technology has developed to its present state,
and the choices that can be made for the future path of that technology. The
work presented in this book is based on nine completed full-scale projects,
several “express” projects, and others that are underway.
The model of Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave, is used to
view human history in terms of agricultural, industrial, and informational “waves”
of civilization. Transitions between waves are diffuse, with characteristics of
the predecessor and future waves intermingled. A basic premise of Directed
Evolution is that many decisions have to be made to manage or control
paths of technology evolution, and that in the present (third) wave, the
necessary information for making those decisions is frequently lacking. In the
past, creativity has been the act of making good decisions in the absence of
complete information. Certain gifted individuals in business, the arts, and
sciences, were seen as creative, since they frequently made good decisions based
on their intuitive understanding of the situation. TRIZ provides the structure
for creativity based on the knowledge of the patterns of evolution, and enhances
everyone’s ability to contribute to creative progress.
The five stages of directed evolution are
- Collection of historical data
- Directed evolution diagnostics (which includes comparison of the
historical data to the patterns and lines of evolution, developing the lines
for this situation, finding missing steps and extrapolating to future
steps.)
- Synthesis of ideas
- Decision making
- Supporting the process evolution
Steps and sub-steps for each stage are explained. Although many of the
Ideation International software tools are mentioned in the descriptions of the
work of each stage, Directed Evolution shows how each concept can
be applied without software. The explanation of the problem formulation method,
for example, which is used in Stage 1 of directed evolution, is presented in
Appendix 3. The Problem Formulator™ is a key part of Ideation’s software
system, used in the Workbench, Anticipatory Failure Determination, Knowledge
Wizard, and other products. This explanation generously makes it possible for
anyone to use the formulator method with or without the software (although the
software certainly makes it faster!)
Part one concludes with a section on teaching directed evolution to children,
adults, and professional users, in which the authors claim (without showing the
analysis) that directed evolution will become a widespread science and a key
element in the advancement of human knowledge. These claims would be far more
persuasive if the analysis and the data were presented as well.
Part 2 presents the patterns and lines of evolution, general methodologies
for using the patterns, and specific methods for some of the patterns and lines
of evolution. This material had previously appeared in Ideation International’s
Tools of Classical TRIZ as lists of the patterns and lines of
evolution. This presentation has much more detail on some of the lines of
evolution, and an explanation of how to use the patterns and lines in directed
evolution.
The nine appendices are used to present a variety of techniques, methods, and
tables of information at a variety of levels of detail. For example, Appendix 4
is an extensive list of resources to be considered in both problem solving and
technology development, and includes traditional TRIZ resources (substances,
fields, time, energy, space) and others such as human resources, political
resources, and financial resources. Appendix 8 is an article on the application
of the S-Curve to whole organizations, not just to individual products or
technologies. This is interesting speculation, but no data is provided to
justify the model.
Alla Zusman and Boris Zlotin, and their editor Victoria Roza have done the
TRIZ community a service by writing Directed Evolution: Philosophy,
Theory, and Practice.
I look forward to getting readers’ reactions as this valuable new resource
is used, and I look forward to publishing case studies in as
people use the methods of Directed Evolution: Philosophy, Theory, and
Practice in their own work.
