The morphological box

The morphological box is a heuristic, but systematic method to analyse a problem, do inventions or design new products. It was developed by the Swiss astronomer Zwicky and applied to find solutions to astronomical problems.
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Zwicky apparently was an enthusiastic teacher, who inspired his students, which is demonstrated by following example

( found at the biography of Fritz Zwicky, written by Roland Mueller: http://www.muellerscience.com/SPEZIALITAETEN/Morphologie/FZ_Biography_1932_1941_english.htm )

“At another time Zwicky promised his class free day if somebody could prove by logic that 10 is an even number. The next morning stood at the blackboard:


Through subtraction

SIX 6
-( IX 9 )
_______
S -3



SEVEN 7
-( S - 3
______________
EVEN 10



The students were allowed to ski on this day.”

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The simplest morphological box is a table with rows and columns. It is also possible, to extend it to several dimensions. A 3rd dimension could be shown, using colours.

To work efficiently with such more complicated problems, computers should be used. In mathematical language, one has to deal with matrices of several dimensions. Each element of the matrix is a combination of several parameters, which can be relevant for the problem. But not all combinations are possible, because of restrictions, set by physical laws, budget limits etc.

An interesting kind of a morphological box is one, in which the columns represent the time line and the rows the speakers in a debate. In each cell of the table the text of the speaker at that time can get activated by clicking the cell.

Have a look at:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/28/us/politics/20071128_DEBATE_GRAPHIC.html#transcript


The same method one can use to categorize all reports. Putting a short title in each cell of a table and hyper linking it to the folder, in which the report is saved, gives a quick access to all reports.

A very good report about morphological analysis ( or morphological box) is available for download at:

http://www.swemorph.com/ma.html

Problem solver teams

Problems can get solved very efficiently in a team, but some precautions must be observed:

• the team members should have different know how

• all team members must be willing to cooperate in an open minded manner

• the results of the team work must be attributed to the team and not to one member only

In companies with a hierarchical structure, the team moderator is in many cases also the boss. This can be a problem, if the boss is very dominating.

Nowadays problem solver teams can get formed globally, using the internet with video conferencing. A core team can do the main structuring and organizing of the meetings via internet and distribute problems to other more specialized teams.

The results of the meetings must be documented in a well structured way, and distributed to all team members, so that all are informed, what is going on.

It is helpful to build a common data base, using a good text retrieval program, like for instance asksam.

Such programs have following features:

• structured ( using templates) and non structured information can be stored in the same data base.

• Boolean search functions and indexing of each word or number in the database is possible. The indexing is very important, because when one does not know, which words are used in the database, then the Boolean search is useless.

• Reports can be written to create sub data bases or print outs of the relevant information

• The database can get encrypted and access to it can be limited to only parts of the database.

Besides a text retrieval program also a visual data base like TheBrain is very useful. TheBrain is an associative database, using hyperlinks. It has also indexing. It is very easy to navigate in it and find any piece of information.

But it is not easy, to create sub data bases or reports. Therefore I recommend TheBrain to collect information and thereafter to use asksam.

asksam:
http://www.asksam.com/

TheBrain
http://www.thebrain.com/