# ✅ Checkpoint: Idea Generation Techniques

By Better Wise



## Quiz

1. During a mind mapping session, when should you start naming and judging themes?
   - Never; themes should stay unnamed until the capstone
   - Only after the brain dump is finished and the map is built
   - While dumping, so you can cross out weak phrases early
   - As soon as a strong theme appears, so you can focus the dump on it
2. You have clustered your mind map and ended up with five groups. What does the lesson recommend?
   - Keep all five so you do not lose any material
   - Merge until exactly three named themes remain
   - Delete the two smallest groups outright
   - Expand to twelve themes so every node has a home
3. In SCAMPER, the letter S stands for ____.
4. Which SCAMPER prompt asks you to remove a core piece and check whether the value survives?
   - Adapt
   - Eliminate
   - Combine
   - Modify
5. After running all seven SCAMPER prompts, how many mutations should you keep, and on what basis?
   - Two, chosen for surprise, a real need, and testability
   - All seven, so nothing is lost
   - The seven safest ones, to reduce risk
   - One, the first idea that appeared
6. Which of these is a structural analogy rather than a surface analogy?
   - Borrowing the emergency room's rule of routing by severity before arrival order
   - Copying a competitor's color scheme and layout
   - Saying our product is 'like a Ferrari for cooking'
   - Making our app 'like Uber, but for dog walkers'
7. In the three-step transfer, after naming the mechanism you abstract it into a general ____ that can dock onto any problem.
8. Why does the lesson say to pick a source domain that is two steps away rather than one?
   - One step away gives you competitors; two steps gives you structure
   - Distance guarantees the transferred idea will work
   - Distant domains are easier to research quickly
   - Near domains have no mechanisms worth borrowing
9. Which of these are among the five reliable source buckets for unusual analogies? Select all that apply.
   - Direct competitors in your own industry
   - Institutions such as courtrooms and fire stations
   - Craft and trade
   - Nature and biology
   - Games and sport
10. Run one full analogy transfer on your capstone problem: pick a distant domain, name its mechanism in one sentence, abstract it to a rule, force it onto your problem, and sketch a cheap test. Then assess your own work.


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## Contents

Part of [🧠 Original Creativity: Generate Ideas Beyond the Obvious](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious.md)

- **🧭 Foundations: Thinking Modes and Observation**
  - [🔀 Divergent and Convergent Thinking: One Loop](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/divergent-and-convergent-thinking.md)
  - [🔍 Observation: Noticing What Others Walk Past](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/observation-for-creative-ideas.md) (sign-in required)
  - [🔒 Creative Constraints: Turning Limits into Levers](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/creative-constraints.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Thinking Modes and Observation](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/checkpoint-thinking-modes-observation.md)
- **🗺️ Generating Options: Mapping, SCAMPER, Analogies**
  - [🕸️ Mind Mapping and Clustering: Brain Dump to Themes](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/mind-mapping-and-clustering.md)
  - [🔧 SCAMPER: Seven Prompts to Stretch an Idea](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/scamper-prompts.md)
  - [🔗 Analogies and Unusual Connections](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/analogies-and-unusual-connections.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Idea Generation Techniques](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/checkpoint-idea-generation-techniques.md) — this lesson
- **🧪 Challenge, Augment, and Test**
  - [🎩 Reverse Brainstorming and Six Thinking Hats](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/reverse-brainstorming-and-six-hats.md)
  - [🤖 AI as a Sparring Partner, Not an Answer Key](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/ai-as-sparring-partner.md)
  - [🚀 Capstone: Original Concept Brief and Test Plan](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/capstone-concept-brief-and-test-plan.md) (premium content)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: From Concept to Test](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/checkpoint-concept-to-test.md) (premium content)
- [Course cheatsheet](https://everwise.study/courses/original-creativity-generate-ideas-beyond-the-obvious/cheatsheet.md) (premium content)