This is a common pattern, also found in proofs by contradiction and optimization techniques. If you know how to find the minimum, you may be able to use that kn

This is a common pattern, also found in proofs by contradiction and optimization techniques. If you know how to find the minimum, you may be able to use that knowledge to find the maximum. The problem with using this pattern in real life is that it rarely applies. Unlike the one-dimensional toy examples, in real life there are many more ways to fail than there are to succeed. Eliminating or even enumerating all possible ways to fail may be prohibitively expensive. Even if you do that, you only found a way to maintain status quo, not necessarily to improve. This can be said about the rest of TRIZ/TIPS. I learned about it a long time ago, but can't remember a single time I solved a practical problem by applying it. I may be able to find examples that can be classified under one of TRIZ rules, but only in hindsight. It's not like you can look at a new problem, apply TRIZ approaches one by one, and find a solution faster than you normally would.