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Category: Methods
Type: Creative Thinking Technique
Origin: Bob Eberle, 1970s, United States
Also known as: SCAMPER, Osborn-Parnes Checklist, Creative Problem-Solving
Quick Answer — SCAMPER is a creative thinking technique that guides you through seven prompts — Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify (or Magnify), Put to other uses, Eliminate (or Minify), Reverse (or Rearrange) — to generate innovative ideas by challenging how existing products, services, or processes work. Developed by Bob Eberle in the 1970s based on Alex Osborn’s earlier work on brainstorming, it provides a structured way to think creatively without starting from a blank page.

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What is the SCAMPER Method?

SCAMPER is an ideation technique that helps you generate creative solutions by asking systematic questions about an existing product, service, or problem. Rather than asking “how might we improve this?” — which is vague and often produces superficial answers — SCAMPER provides seven specific lenses through which to examine anything. The seven prompts are:
  • Substitute: What can be replaced? Materials, people, location, timing?
  • Combine: What can be merged? Features, products, services, audiences?
  • Adapt: What can be changed? What else is like this? What could be copied?
  • Modify (or Magnify): What can be exaggerated, intensified, or made bigger?
  • Put to other uses: What else could this be used for? New markets, new contexts?
  • Eliminate (or Minify): What can be removed? Simplified? Made smaller?
  • Reverse (or Rearrange): What can be flipped? Opposite action? New order?
“The purpose of creativity is to see the familiar as if it were unfamiliar.” — Alex Osborn, inventor of brainstorming
The genius of SCAMPER is that it starts with something concrete. You’re not inventing from nothing — you’re taking an existing thing and forcing yourself to see it differently. This makes creative thinking accessible to people who find blank-page brainstorming intimidating.

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SCAMPER Method in 3 Depths

  • Beginner: Take a single product or process and work through all seven SCAMPER prompts systematically. Write down at least one idea for each letter. Don’t judge ideas during the exercise — just generate.
  • Practitioner: Apply SCAMPER to a specific business challenge. Use the prompts as a team exercise, assigning different letters to different people, then combining results. Prioritize ideas using criteria like feasibility, impact, and resources required.
  • Advanced: Use SCAMPER in combination with other frameworks. Apply it iteratively: use SCAMPER to generate options, then first principles thinking to evaluate the underlying assumptions, then six thinking hats to anticipate challenges.

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Origin

SCAMPER was developed by Bob Eberle, an American creativity researcher and educator, in the 1970s. The technique builds on Alex Osborn’s earlier work on brainstorming, which Osborn introduced in his 1953 book “Applied Imagination.” Osborn created a checklist of questions to stimulate creative thinking, and Eberle condensed and organized these into the memorable SCAMPER acronym. The technique gained wider recognition through the education system and creativity training programs in the 1980s and 1990s. It became particularly popular in design thinking and product development contexts, where its structured approach to ideation proved valuable for both individuals and teams. Today, SCAMPER is widely used across industries — from consumer products and software to healthcare and education. It remains popular because it balances creativity with structure, making innovation accessible without requiring exceptional creative talent.

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Key Points

1

Start with a Specific Focus

SCAMPER works best when you apply it to a specific product, service, or problem — not a vague category. “How might we improve our smartphone app?” works better than “how might we innovate?”
2

Suspend Judgment During Generation

The goal is quantity during the SCAMPER exercise. Don’t evaluate ideas as they come — that kills creativity. Write everything down, even ideas that seem absurd. Evaluation comes after generation.
3

Combine Prompts When Productive

You’re not obligated to use each letter in isolation. Sometimes “what if we combined substitution and elimination?” produces richer ideas than either alone.
4

Follow Up with Validation

SCAMPER generates hypotheses, not solutions. Each promising idea needs further development: market research, technical feasibility analysis, and resource planning.

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Applications

Product Development

Improve existing products or generate new product ideas. Apply SCAMPER to competitor products to find differentiation opportunities.

Service Innovation

Rethink service delivery, customer experience, or business processes. Use SCAMPER to challenge assumptions about how services are currently designed.

Marketing Strategy

Reframe products for new audiences, modify messaging, or identify new use cases. Apply “Put to other uses” to find entirely new market segments.

Problem-Solving

Break out of mental ruts when stuck on a challenge. SCAMPER’s systematic prompts can unlock thinking when brainstorming has failed.

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Case Study

In the early 2000s, a mid-sized furniture company was struggling with declining sales. Their core product — traditional wooden dining tables — faced intense competition from cheaper imported furniture. They needed to either reduce costs (which would hurt quality) or find a way to differentiate. The leadership team applied SCAMPER to their dining table line: Substitute: What if we substituted materials? They explored composite materials that looked like wood but cost less. They also explored substitute distribution — selling directly to consumers online rather than through showrooms. Combine: What if they combined the table with other furniture functions? This led to the concept of dining tables with built-in storage, or tables that could convert into desks for work-from-home use. Adapt: What could they copy from other industries? They adapted the “configurator” technology from the automotive industry, allowing customers to customize their tables online. Modify (Magnify): What could be exaggerated? They created an “oversized” collection for large families, a gap in the market that competitors had ignored. Put to other uses: Could the table serve other functions? This led to co-creation sessions where customers designed multi-purpose furniture, including tables that served as gathering points for family activities. Eliminate: What could be removed? They simplified their product line, eliminating obscure sizes and finishes that added complexity without proportional sales. Reverse: What if they let customers build their own tables? This became their most successful innovation — a “build your own” modular system that customers loved. The company didn’t implement every idea, but SCAMPER helped them see their product line in ways their normal planning processes had missed. Revenue increased 23% over the next two years.

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Boundaries and Failure Modes

Without deep domain knowledge, SCAMPER prompts can lead to obvious or unworkable ideas. The technique is a starting point, not a substitute for expertise.
SCAMPER improves or modifies existing things — it’s not designed for breakthrough innovations that create entirely new categories. For those, use other approaches like first principles thinking.
If team members have similar backgrounds, SCAMPER prompts may produce similar results. Diverse teams with different perspectives get more from the technique.

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Common Misconceptions

While developed for product development, SCAMPER applies to any challenge. Services, processes, organizational structures, and social problems can all benefit from SCAMPER prompts.
Some SCAMPER prompts may not yield useful results for a given challenge. That’s fine — not every letter needs to produce a winner. Focus on the prompts that resonate.
There’s no required sequence for SCAMPER prompts. Some practitioners start with Eliminate to challenge assumptions, others start with Combine to spark ideas. Adapt the order to your challenge.
SCAMPER connects to other creative thinking frameworks and problem-solving tools.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a foundational technique for generating ideas; SCAMPER provides structure to that process.

First Principles Thinking

First Principles Thinking complements SCAMPER by helping validate and refine generated ideas.

Lateral Thinking

Lateral Thinking is the broader creative thinking discipline; SCAMPER is one specific technique within it.

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One-Line Takeaway

Don’t reinvent from scratch — take what exists and systematically ask “what if?” SCAMPER forces you to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways.