CVS CVS Creative Thinking and Idea Generation Questions and Answers 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In a virtual value study, several junior members stay silent during live brainstorming while senior voices dominate. Which method best equalizes idea contribution?
- Brainwriting, where all participants write ideas silently before sharing (Correct answer)
- Letting the most senior engineer summarize the group's ideas
- Skipping the Creative Phase and moving to evaluation
- Reducing the team to only the vocal members
Correct answer: Brainwriting, where all participants write ideas silently before sharing
Brainwriting removes verbal dominance effects by collecting written ideas from everyone simultaneously.
Question 2: During speculation, an idea is proposed that is clearly impossible with current materials. What should the facilitator do with it?
- Record it, since impractical ideas can trigger feasible variations later (Correct answer)
- Delete it immediately to keep the list credible
- Ask the proposer to justify it with cost data
- Send it to management for a ruling
Correct answer: Record it, since impractical ideas can trigger feasible variations later
Wild ideas are recorded because they often serve as stepping stones to practical, high-value concepts.
Question 3: A value specialist wants ideas targeted at the function with the poorest value. Which pre-creative step best focuses the speculation effort?
- Comparing function cost to function worth to select value-mismatched functions (Correct answer)
- Sorting parts alphabetically by supplier name
- Choosing the function the customer mentions least often
- Brainstorming on every function equally regardless of cost
Correct answer: Comparing function cost to function worth to select value-mismatched functions
Function cost-to-worth comparison identifies the value mismatches where creative effort pays off most.
Question 4: A team generated 240 ideas in the Creative Phase. The facilitator groups similar ideas into themes before evaluation. What is the main benefit of this affinity grouping?
- It reveals patterns and combines related ideas so evaluation is efficient and duplication is reduced (Correct answer)
- It automatically ranks the ideas by savings
- It eliminates the need for a champion for each idea
- It converts the ideas directly into implementation proposals
Correct answer: It reveals patterns and combines related ideas so evaluation is efficient and duplication is reduced
Affinity grouping organizes a large idea pool into themes, cutting duplication and streamlining later evaluation.
Question 5: Which workshop condition is most likely to reduce the quantity of ideas produced during the Creative Phase?
- Having the design's original author defend the current solution during speculation (Correct answer)
- Displaying the FAST diagram in the room
- Using a scribe to capture every idea verbatim
- Setting a short, energetic time limit for each function
Correct answer: Having the design's original author defend the current solution during speculation
A defensive design owner introduces judgment and ownership bias, which suppresses idea generation.
Question 6: The technique of asking 'How would nature accomplish this function?' to inspire design alternatives is an example of what?
- Analogy-based thinking such as biomimicry (Correct answer)
- Life-cycle cost analysis
- Tolerance stack-up analysis
- Design of experiments
Correct answer: Analogy-based thinking such as biomimicry
Drawing solutions from nature is an analogy technique known as biomimicry.
Question 7: A facilitator restarts a stalled session by asking the team to list the worst possible ways to perform the function, then invert them. What is the purpose of this reverse brainstorming?
- Breaking mental blocks by approaching the problem from the opposite direction (Correct answer)
- Documenting failure modes for the FMEA report
- Proving the current design is already optimal
- Estimating the cost of poor quality
Correct answer: Breaking mental blocks by approaching the problem from the opposite direction
Reverse brainstorming overcomes fixation by generating negative ideas that are then inverted into solutions.
CVS CVS Creative Thinking and Idea Generation Questions and Answers 5
In a virtual value study, several junior members stay silent during live brainstorming while senior voices dominate.
Which method best equalizes idea contribution?