STC Operator
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
STC is a TRIZ creativity operator that extreme-ises three dimensions of an object. Size is pushed to maximum or minimum, time to instantaneous or glacial, and cost to free or unlimited. Working inside these impossible settings forces the mind out of its default middle-ground assumptions and exposes solutions that ordinary framing hides. The extreme scenario is not the answer itself but a springboard: the useful move is to extract the feasible idea it reveals and bring it back to realistic constraints.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use extreme scale: ask what happens if the object becomes enormous or truly microscopic. - Use extreme timing: ask what changes if the process becomes instant or near-frozen. - Use feasibility return: pull one workable idea back from the extreme scenario into real constraints.
Anchor fast decisions
Pushing size, time, and cost to extremes forces an escape from default middle-ground thinking. Working under impossible assumptions produces ideas that normal framing suppresses, and the technique then pulls those ideas back toward realistic constraints, making extreme-isation an effective way to break functional fixedness.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIZverified
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