Generate ideas
SCAMPER
Seven prompts (substitute, combine, adapt, modify, put to another use, eliminate, reverse) for generating ideas from something that exists.
- Time30 to 45 minutes
- People2 to 10 people
- Steps3
What it's for
Most new ideas change something that already exists. SCAMPER gives seven ways to change it, so instead of staring at a blank page the team works through one prompt at a time.
Use it on a product, a process or a service. Not every prompt will produce something, and that's fine.
How to run it
Name the starting point2 min
Write the product, process or idea you're working on in the summary.
Work through the prompts25 min
A few minutes on each frame, adding ideas.
Vote5 min3 votes each
Vote for the ideas worth exploring.
Tips
- Time-box each prompt. Stuck on one? Move on and come back.
- Eliminate is often the most useful prompt for mature products.
Where it comes from
Arranged by Bob Eberle in 1971 from the idea-spurring questions Alex Osborn, the inventor of brainstorming, published in Applied Imagination (1953).
Pairs well with
Brainwriting 6-3-5
Six people write three ideas each, then pass them on to be built on, five rounds over, for up to 108 ideas in half an hour.
Mind map
Start with one topic in the middle and branch outwards, so related ideas sit together and gaps become visible.
Reverse brainstorm
Brainstorm how to make the problem worse, then turn each bad idea around to find good ones.