# ✅ Checkpoint: Thinking Modes and Observation

By Better Wise



## Quiz

1. During a divergence sprint, a teammate says about a brand-new idea: "That won't work, nobody would use it." What is the best response according to the lesson?
   - Stop generating and switch straight into scoring the list so the concern gets resolved.
   - Ask the teammate to leave the session because only positive comments are allowed.
   - Name the early judgement, move the concern to the parking lot, and restart the timer.
   - Drop the idea immediately, since a feasibility problem is a valid reason to remove it.
2. When should you choose the criteria for a convergence round?
   - Only after the first prototype has been tested in the real world.
   - After scoring, so the criteria can match the ideas you like best.
   - Never: convergence should be based on gut feeling alone.
   - Before you look at and score the list of ideas.
3. Which note from an observation sweep is a fact rather than an interpretation?
   - "The checkout area is confusing."
   - "People seemed anxious about the queue."
   - "Four people stepped back from the counter in ten minutes."
   - "The space felt crowded and stressful."
4. Which problem statement is testable in the way the lesson describes?
   - "Customers want a better atmosphere."
   - "People find queuing annoying."
   - "First-time visitors at the café entrance cannot tell where the queue starts, so they hover in the doorway and get redirected by staff."
   - "The café experience should be more delightful."
5. "No app, no screen, no new purchase" is an example of which family of creative constraint?
   - Prohibition
   - Form
   - Target
   - Resource
6. Which set lists the four tests a usable constraint should pass?
   - Specific, checkable, uncomfortable, survivable
   - Fun, fast, free, familiar
   - Vague, flexible, comfortable, permanent
   - Novel, cheap, popular, measurable
7. In a divergence sprint, the core rule is to ____ judgement until the list is finished.
8. A convergence round should end with ____ candidates to test, not one final answer.
9. Run a 10-minute observation sweep in a familiar public space and write 8 fact-only notes. Then mark each note F (fact) or I (interpretation), and rewrite the worst three as countable facts.
10. Build a three-constraint kit for your capstone topic: ban the obvious, halve a resource, and fix the form. Write each constraint as "My concept must ___", then test each one for bite.


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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) — this lesson
- **🗺️ 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)
- **🧪 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)