September, 2007
Howard Smith

As every process change practitioner knows, simple business tools catch on. Who hasn’t heard of a SWOT chart – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats? On the other hand how many business people know how to perform a SWOT analysis effectively? Drawing a SWOT chart might look easy, but solving the problem it represents is far from trivial. Many of us use the simple SWOT framework and hardly ever stop to think about what the structure of the chart really means. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of considering our work done if we can get the team members to agree on what to write in the four boxes! Unfortunately, the process often ends there. In this article, I’ll show how to go beyond a simplistic SWOT analysis and move on towards an actionable implementation strategy.

August, 2014
Wes Perusek

We are looking back at an important article written by the late Wes Perusek, a champion of TRIZ in education. His belief that TRIZ was one of the keys to a well rounded education for all students can be re-emphasized even more today then in 2003. AI will be re-doubling its efforts to get TRIZ accepted into the national STEM curriculum. If you know any key STEM people, please have them contact AI for more information.

Improving Technological Literacy in the Schools

The systematic study of the past is crucial for full development of those who would shape the future. We here argue that historians of technology have a vital role to play in developing a curriculum for the schools that could help foster an atmosphere of innovation and invention among the next generation of engineers, scientists and researchers.