Anti-Weight (Counterbalance)

{
  "id": "TRIZ-08",
  "title": "Anti-Weight (Counterbalance)",
  "intent": "Offset negative forces or constraints by introducing compensating mechanisms instead of fighting them directly.",
  "triz_principle": {
    "number": 8,
    "name": "Anti-Weight",
    "definition": "Compensate for weight or negative effects by combining with other objects or forces that counterbalance them."
  },
  "problem_understanding": {
    "core_contradiction": "We must operate under heavy constraints, but those constraints slow us down or reduce quality.",
    "why_this_hurts": "Trying to remove constraints directly is often impossible (regulation, legacy, org politics), so teams burn energy fighting reality.",
    "typical_signals": [
      "strict governance or compliance rules",
      "legacy systems that cannot be replaced",
      "slow approval processes",
      "high coordination or documentation burden"
    ]
  },
  "solution_logic": {
    "core_idea": "Accept the constraint and add a counterbalancing mechanism that neutralizes its negative impact.",
    "key_rule": "Do not fight the constraint head-on; reduce its effective weight.",
    "how_it_resolves_the_contradiction": "The constraint remains, but its impact on speed, quality, or morale is reduced through automation, tooling, or parallel flows."
  },
  "application_patterns": {
    "consulting": [
      "add lightweight pre-approval templates to offset heavy governance",
      "use decision checklists to reduce meeting time",
      "introduce fast-track paths alongside formal processes"
    ],
    "software_engineering": [
      "automated tests to counterbalance slow manual QA",
      "code generation to offset verbose frameworks",
      "caching to compensate for slow downstream systems"
    ],
    "architecture": [
      "read replicas to offset write bottlenecks",
      "async processing to counter synchronous latency",
      "feature toggles to deploy safely under strict release rules"
    ],
    "enterprise_sap": [
      "pre-validation rules to reduce MDG workflow rejections",
      "simulation runs to offset risky cutover constraints",
      "monitoring and alerts to compensate for limited runtime flexibility"
    ]
  },
  "anti_patterns": [
    "adding compensation without understanding the real constraint",
    "over-engineering the counterbalance",
    "masking fundamental problems instead of isolating them"
  ],
  "usage_guidance": {
    "use_when": [
      "constraints cannot be removed in the short term",
      "teams waste energy fighting rules or legacy",
      "speed is needed without breaking compliance"
    ],
    "do_not_use_when": [
      "the constraint can actually be removed or simplified",
      "counterbalancing adds more complexity than it removes"
    ]
  },
  "diagnostic_questions": [
    "Which constraint causes the most friction but cannot be changed?",
    "What mechanism could neutralize its impact?",
    "Can we automate or parallelize around this constraint?"
  ],
  "example": {
    "before": "Each change requires long manual testing due to strict release rules.",
    "after": "Automated regression tests counterbalance strict governance, enabling faster and safer releases."
  },
  "meta": {
    "schema": "dkharlanau.dataset.byte",
    "schema_version": "1.1",
    "dataset": "TRIZ-bytes",
    "source_project": "cv-ai",
    "source_path": "TRIZ-bytes/TRIZ-08.json",
    "generated_at_utc": "2026-02-03T14:33:32+00:00",
    "creator": {
      "name": "Dzmitryi Kharlanau",
      "role": "SAP Lead",
      "website": "https://dkharlanau.github.io",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/dkharlanau"
    },
    "attribution": {
      "attribution_required": true,
      "preferred_citation": "Dzmitryi Kharlanau (SAP Lead). Dataset bytes: https://dkharlanau.github.io"
    },
    "license": {
      "name": "",
      "spdx": "",
      "url": ""
    },
    "links": {
      "website": "https://dkharlanau.github.io",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/dkharlanau"
    },
    "contact": {
      "preferred": "linkedin",
      "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/dkharlanau"
    },
    "canonical_url": "https://dkharlanau.github.io/datasets/TRIZ-bytes/TRIZ-08.json",
    "created_at_utc": "2026-02-03T14:33:32+00:00",
    "updated_at_utc": "2026-02-03T15:29:02+00:00",
    "provenance": {
      "source_type": "chat_export_extraction",
      "note": "Extracted and curated by Dzmitryi Kharlanau; enriched for attribution and crawler indexing."
    },
    "entity_type": "triz_byte",
    "entity_subtype": "",
    "summary": "Offset negative forces or constraints by introducing compensating mechanisms instead of fighting them directly."
  }
}