scamper

SCAMPER

Overview

SCAMPER is a structured ideation checklist that forces creative thinking by interrogating an existing product, process, or idea through seven lenses. Each lens prompts a different type of transformation. Use it when brainstorming stalls, when iterating on an existing solution, or when you need a fast way to generate a wide range of options.

┌───────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  LENS             │  CORE QUESTION                                   │
├───────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  S — Substitute   │  What can be swapped out?                        │
│  C — Combine      │  What can be merged or bundled?                  │
│  A — Adapt        │  What can be borrowed from elsewhere?            │
│  M — Modify       │  What can be magnified, shrunk, or altered?      │
│  P — Put to use   │  What other contexts could this serve?           │
│  E — Eliminate    │  What can be removed without loss of core value? │
│  R — Reverse      │  What if the order or assumption were flipped?   │
└───────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Lens Definitions

S — Substitute

Replace a component, material, person, rule, or process with something else.

• "What if we used X instead of Y?"
• Examples: replace human review with automated scoring; swap synchronous meetings with async video updates.

C — Combine

Merge two or more elements, functions, or products.

• "What two things could be joined to create something new?"
• Examples: bundle onboarding and the first purchase into one flow; combine customer support with product telemetry.

A — Adapt

Borrow and apply ideas from another domain, product, or era.

• "What already exists elsewhere that solves a similar problem?"
• Examples: apply airline boarding-zone logic to hospital triage; adapt subscription pricing from SaaS to hardware.

M — Modify / Magnify / Minify

Change a property — size, speed, frequency, color, shape, intensity.

• "What happens if we 10x this? Halve it? Make it daily instead of monthly?"
• Examples: compress a 2-hour onboarding to 10 minutes; magnify personalization from segment-level to individual.