Working backward from perfect

The ideal innovation concept is borrowed from the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), which calls this perfect state the ideal final result. As a ratio, the value quotient approaches infinity, or a state where all benefits of a solution are achieved at zero cost and zero harm. In TRIZ terminology, this is called working backward from perfect, which forces the innovator to break through his or her psychological inertia into new, less limiting domains of thinking. 

There is a huge difference between starting an innovation discovery process with these ideals versus starting with whatever you do or offer customers today. The mind is like a rubber band, and the notion of the ideal innovation can only help stretch it. Therefore, if you are designing an innovative way to clean clothes, start with the perfect solution in mind and work backward from there. 

This state then becomes your innovation baseline rather than starting from what you have (existing solution), you start with the perfect solution in mind and work backward. If you were to discover and develop a perfect solution for the JTBD, what would it be ... 

In the early 1960s, seminal work by Jencks and coworkers demonstrated that formation and hydrolysis of C=N bonds were proceeding via a carbinolamine intermediate, thus leading to a more general mechanism of addition reactions on carbonyl groups [17-19]. The dynamic nature of the reaction of imine formation can be exploited to drive the equilibrium either forward or backwards. Since the reaction involves the loss of a molecule of water, adding or removing water from the reaction mixture proved an efficient way to shift the equilibrium in either direction. The responsive behavior of imines to external stimuli makes the reversible reaction of imine formation perfectly suited for DCC experiments [20], Thermodynamically controlled reactions based on imine chemistry include (1) imine condensation/hydrolysis, (2) transiminations, and (3) imine-metathesis reactions... 

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