Resources and Parameters of Resources

Abstract

In this chapter, we will explore the main ideas of resources and parameters of resources. Everything in our Universe (including our solar system, Earth, and human society) is a resource for something or somebody. We can say that we live in a world of resources. The only question is who or what is a resource, and who uses that resource in any case. A given part could be a resource for another part and, at the same time, a user of the resources of other components. There is a natural regulation between resources and users in naturally occurring systems. In systems artificially created directly or indirectly by human action, we need to perform this regulation ourselves. To use existing resources for problem-solving and system evolution is one of the fundamental TRIZ principles. TRIZ defines existing resources as any resource of time, space, substances (including any part), and fields. These resources could be inside an analyzed system or outside the system, along with extensive resources and background fields of the environment (gravitational or magnetic field of the Earth). The beauty of this is that we can use any existing resources available to help solve a problem. We use existing resources by changing the value of their parameters to achieve project specification requirements. Having a problem means we must change the value (or values) of one or more parameters. Finding a solution means we have found a way to change some parameters’ value (or values).