Formal problem solving is a curse. I’ve spent fifteen years trying to understand how a problem is solved rationally. How to identify and resolve contradictions. This seems to have been the objective of the Russian, Altshuller. He developed an algorithm for problem solving that I find very powerful. The TRIZ framework is not merely a mechanism to break your psychological inertia and provoke you to good ideas. Altshuller's work attempts to prove that the question answered is the correct question, and to prove that the solution developed is the best solution.