SCAMPER

A brainstorming method that promotes creativity and lateral thinking. This method is used to expand and improve on ideas by testing and questioning the problem using 7 different approaches.

Steps: 3
Last edited: Jan 8, 2025
Created by: Nova

About this process

A brainstorming method that promotes creativity and lateral thinking. This method is used to expand and improve on ideas by testing, questioning and tackling it using different approaches. Alex Osborn, the creator of the brainstorming method, came up with most of the questions used in the SCAMPER method. Later on, Bob Eberle, an educational administrator decided to organize these questions into the SCAMPER mnemonic. This process involves 7 'forces' to approach a problem that will help your team think differently. This method is a great way to exercise creativity. More information: https://litemind.com/scamper/ http://creatingminds.org/tools/scamper.htm Duration: 30 min to 1 hour

The process in detail

3 steps

1
🎢 Define the Focus
2
Define success. (optional)
3
SCAMPER

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1. 🎢 Define the Focus

Clearly identify the product, service, or challenge you want to innovate or improve.

Example: “We want to improve our team collaboration tool.”

👀 The SCAMPER method helps teams generate ideas for new products and solve challenges by asking seven different types of questions. It is a lateral thinking technique that enables you and your team to innovate and improve existing products, problems, and ideas by introducing new concepts and perspectives. During a SCAMPER session, your primary goal is to generate new ideas.

Defining success is essential to determine whether the brainstorming session has achieved its purpose. Success criteria help your team decide whether to continue exploring ideas or shift to analyzing the challenge further to find viable solutions.

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2. Define success. (optional)

The SCAMPER method helps teams generate ideas for new products and solve challenges by asking seven different types of questions. It is a lateral thinking technique that enables you and your team to innovate and improve existing products, problems, and ideas by introducing new concepts and perspectives. During a SCAMPER session, your primary goal is to generate new ideas.

How to Define Success

To define success effectively, follow these steps:

1. Set a Clear Goal

• Clearly outline what you aim to achieve using the SCAMPER method.

• Example: “Generate at least five new ideas for reducing waiting times in hospitals.”

2. Establish Specific Criteria

• Define measurable outcomes to evaluate the success of your session.

• Example: “Ideas must not increase the hospital’s daily operating costs or require significant infrastructure changes.”

3. Apply Rules and Limitations

• Provide boundaries to guide creative thinking and keep the session focused.

• Example: “Ideas must be implementable within six months and should align with patient satisfaction goals.”

4. Timeframe for Idea Generation

• Decide on the duration for brainstorming and stick to it.

• Example: “Spend 60 minutes brainstorming using the SCAMPER prompts.”

5. Prioritize Feasibility

• Specify that ideas should be realistic and actionable within the defined constraints.

• Example: “Ideas should be feasible with the hospital’s existing resources or minor adjustments.”

Example Success Statement

“I want to find five new ideas to reduce waiting times in hospitals. These ideas must not increase the hospital’s daily costs, require more staff, or demand extensive infrastructure changes. They should improve patient satisfaction and be implementable within six months using the hospital’s current resources.”

By defining success in this way, your team can stay focused, work efficiently, and evaluate the outcomes of the SCAMPER session effectively.

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3. SCAMPER

If you’re brainstorming improvements for a team collaboration tool:

•Substitute: Replace a part of the product, process, or service with something else. Questions to ask: What materials, components, or resources can we replace? Can we swap roles, responsibilities, or processes? What if we replaced one feature with a completely different one?

•Combine: Merge two or more elements into a single, more effective solution. Questions to ask: Can we combine features or tools to create something unique? What ideas or processes from other industries can we merge with ours? How can we integrate multiple steps or systems into one?

•Adapt: Adjust the product or process to serve a different purpose or context. Questions to ask: What else is like this, and how can we adapt it? How can we make this solution fit a different target audience or scenario? What lessons from other fields could apply here?

•Modify: Change the size, shape, scope, or functionality to improve or alter it. Questions to ask:What can we enlarge, enhance, or amplify for better results? Can we simplify or streamline certain aspects? What happens if we exaggerate a specific feature or benefit?

•Put to another use: Think of other ways the product, process, or service could be used.(Can we use this for a completely different purpose or audience How else can we leverage this feature or process? What industries or customers might benefit from this?)

•Eliminate: Remove or simplify aspects to make the product or process more effective. ( What can we remove without impacting the core functionality?Are there steps or features that add unnecessary complexity?What redundancies can we eliminate?)

•Rearrange: Reorder steps or reverse the process to achieve a different result. (What happens if we change the sequence of steps? Can we flip the usual way of doing things to create value? How would reversing the roles or outcomes impact the results?)

By systematically applying SCAMPER, you can unlock new perspectives and innovative solutions!

Work on the whiteboardSCAMPER

SCAMPER

Merge 2 ideas, stages of the process or product into a single and more efficient output.
Parts of a product (service, idea, strategy) that can be replaced with another.
Aim to adjust or tweak the product (idea, service, strategy, process) for a better output.
Make changes to the process to unleash more innovative capabilities to solve problems effectively.
Identify, improve, and eliminate parts of the process or design that needs to be improved.
Change the order of some of the processes/steps, strategy, plan, etc.
How the product, service, idea or strategy can be put to other purposes and to solve other problems.

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Capabilities

Fully editableAdapts as work changesAdd more sessions anytimeAI can be assigned

Created byNova·Official process

Last edited Jan 8, 2025·3 steps