9 Windows (TRIZ System Operator)

Overview

The System Operator — also called "9 Windows" or "Multi-Screen Tool" — is a TRIZ tool that analyses a system on two axes simultaneously: time (past, present, future) and hierarchy (subsystem, system, supersystem). The result is a 3×3 grid of nine perspectives on the same subject.

The point: instead of only considering the current state of the system, you deliberately jump into the neighbouring cells. How did a predecessor system work? Which components (subsystem) will change in the future? In which environment (supersystem) will the system then operate? Inventive ideas emerge from these answers that pure present-state thinking would never surface.

System: The object of analysis — e.g. "passenger car with combustion engine", "fixture", "production line".

Subsystem: The components that make up the system (one level deeper in the hierarchy).

Supersystem: The structure within which the system is embedded (one level higher).

Genrich Altshuller himself promoted this tool. It is not an algorithmic procedure like the contradiction matrix but a thinking structure that trades tunnel vision for systems thinking.

Approach

• Name the system clearly (title field). A precise name avoids confusion with sub- or supersystem.
• Fill the centre cell "System / Present" first — the current state.
• Move along the columns: past (how was it solved before?) and future (how might it look ahead?).
• Move along the rows: subsystem (parts, substances, fields) and supersystem (environment, interfaces, stakeholders).
• Deliberately fill the corner cells (subsystem-past, supersystem-future, …). The strongest insights often live there.
• Add sketches, photos or diagrams per cell when text alone falls short.
• Derive ideas from the full picture: which properties from the past could be revived? Which trends in the supersystem force changes to the system?

Axis labels are editable. Other common pairings are "micro / macro / meta", "component / product / market", or "module / plant / site". What matters is that the hierarchy spacing stays consistent.

Interpreting the result

The output is not a list of finished solutions but a thinking inventory. Read the filled grid both horizontally and vertically: which component (subsystem) is critical today but wasn't before? Which change in the supersystem (e.g. new regulation, new neighbouring technology) will shift the requirements on the system?

Common patterns:

• The past column often reveals that current problems came from a detail optimisation the predecessor never needed.
• The future column shows whether today's design path is actually viable long-term or whether a leap is required.
• The subsystem row exposes hidden assumptions about the parts — TRIZ calls this "psychological inertia".
• The supersystem row brings stakeholders, regulations, and market conditions into the picture.

If cells stay empty, don't force it. An empty cell is an honest statement — "I lack knowledge here". That is a concrete research task.

References & further reading

• G. S. Altshuller: "Creativity as an Exact Science" (1984).
• D. Mann: "Hands-On Systematic Innovation" — chapter on the Multi-Screen Tool.
• V. Souchkov: "TRIZ Body of Knowledge" — short definition of the System Operator.
• oxfordcreativity.co.uk — open resources on the tool.

Examples

This module ships with the following example datasets — load any of them in the app with a single click.

Available in the following cycles

• No fixed phase in cycle DMAIC (lives in the "More" tile).
• No fixed phase in cycle DMADV (lives in the "More" tile).
• 8D: D5 — Corrective Actions