Abstract
Most new ideas are changes to old ones. SCAMPER names seven kinds of change so you can try them on purpose: substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate and reverse.
You take one product or process and run it through each letter in turn. Some letters give you nothing. One or two usually turn up something you wouldn't have found by staring at the problem. Bob Eberle put the list together in 1971 from Alex Osborn's brainstorming questions.
Method
- 01
Pick the subject
Choose one existing product, service or process and describe it in a sentence.
- 02
Go through the letters
For each letter, write as many ideas as you can. Silly ones are fine at this stage.
- 03
Use the prompts
When a letter feels empty, pick one of its questions and answer it literally.
- 04
Star the promising ones
Go back through the list and mark the ideas worth a closer look.
- 05
Take the shortlist further
Put the starred ideas through a proper evaluation, like a decision matrix or a quick prototype.
When to use it
- You need to improve something that already exists.
- A brainstorm has stalled and the same ideas keep coming up.
- You want a group to generate ideas without the loudest person running the session.
Common pitfalls
- Judging ideas as they come. Wait until you've been through all seven letters.
- Picking something too broad, like "our company". Choose one concrete thing.
- Skipping the uncomfortable letters. Eliminate and reverse often give the boldest ideas.
- Ending with a list and no next step.
Origin and references
Attributed to Bob Eberle, after Alex Osborn (1971).
- Eberle, B. (1971). SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development. D.O.K. Publishers.
- Osborn, A. F. (1953). Applied Imagination. Charles Scribner's Sons.