creative-ideation

Creative Ideation SOP

When to Use

• User needs ideas for a product, feature, campaign, or story
• User says "brainstorm", "I'm stuck", "give me ideas", "what could I do with..."
• User wants to explore a problem space before committing to a solution
• User needs to break out of a creative rut

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Step 1 — Frame the Challenge

Before generating ideas, nail down the challenge statement. Use How Might We (HMW) format:

"How might we [verb] [object] so that [desired outcome]?"

Examples:

• "How might we reduce onboarding friction for enterprise users so that activation takes < 5 minutes?"
• "How might we make our weekly newsletter feel like a conversation so that readers reply?"

Ask the user to confirm or refine the HMW before proceeding to ideation.

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The 5 Techniques

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Technique 1 — SCAMPER

Apply each lens to the subject and generate at least 2 ideas per letter:

Letter	Question	Apply to: [subject]
Substitute	What can be replaced?
Combine	What can be merged or bundled?
Adapt	What can be borrowed from elsewhere?
Modify / Magnify	What can be exaggerated or scaled?
Put to other uses	What else can this do?
Eliminate	What can be removed entirely?
Reverse / Rearrange	What if you flip the order or approach?

Output format:

SCAMPER — [Subject]

S: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
C: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
A: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
M: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
P: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
E: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]
R: [Idea 1], [Idea 2]

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Technique 2 — Reverse Brainstorming

Instead of solving the problem, brainstorm how to make it worse. Then flip each answer.

Steps:

1. Reverse the challenge: "How might we CAUSE [problem]?"
2. Generate 8–10 ways to make things terrible
3. Reverse each terrible idea into a potential solution

Example:

Challenge: How might we improve user retention?
Reversed: How might we guarantee users churn immediately?

Terrible ideas → Flipped solutions:
- Make onboarding confusing    → Create a guided, skippable tutorial
- Never send notifications      → Send personalized, timely nudges
- Hide the valuable features    → Surface key features on day 1
- Make cancellation instant     → Add a "pause" option before cancel