How to develop creativity with a scamper

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This technique is useful for finding ideas, refining existing and developing new products.

Why do you need a scumper?

We've already covered two tools that can help you creatively solve problems and come up with cool ideas. These are associations and maps of empathy.

But there is also such a creative tool as a scumper. Its essence lies in the fact that when considering a problem, you must find ideas by answering questions about certain actions.

The scamper is able to become your assistant, because the ability to ask questions and seek answers to them is a basic skill of any person. And questions built in a coherent chain and using a set of actions to solve a problem give excellent results.

What is a scumper?

Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put, Eliminate, Reverse (SCAMPER) is a list of actions that you must apply in turn or in combination to your problem, answer control questions and get ideas for solving the problem.

Bob Eberle put these actions together in 1997 and came up with the scumper, but did so based on Alex Osborne's broader checklist.

This technique is used to search for ideas, refine existing and develop new products.

How does this device work?

A set of actions (modifications) helps to study various aspects of the problem, including those that are little used and have the potential for development. By consistently answering questions about the action to be taken, you get unexpected answers.

The standard set of actions (modifications) is as follows:

Reduction	Action	Description
S	Substitute	Replace something: components, elements, materials, people
C	Combine	Combine: combine with other functions, elements
A	Adapt	Add something: new elements, components, functions
M	Modify	Modify: resize, shape, color, response time
P	Put	Apply for something else: for a different industry or task
E	Eliminate	Delete: simplify, leaving the essence
R	Reverse	Flip: swap, start from end

How to use a scumper to solve a creative problem?

It's simple:

1. Define the problem and its constituent parts.
2. Prepare a table for work by entering the elements of your problem (system elements) in the columns.
3. Complete each column in turn by answering security questions for the selected action.
4. After filling in the entire table, choose the most interesting ideas.
5. Implement the selected ideas.

What are the alternatives?

You can have your own scumper. You can define a checklist for yourself and run any problematic tasks through it.

The scumper sometimes uses Magnify instead of Modify, Minify or Simplify instead of Eliminate, Reorder instead of Reverse. "Swap") or Rearrange ("regroup").

Scamper is a flexible and open tool, the main principle of which is to answer key questions, forcing yourself to think differently.

There is a very good list of questions that I spied on at the training of Vadim Demchog's School of Play. I called it KVO - mindfulness control questions:

• Who am I?
• What am I doing?
• What is important to me?

Every day I run myself through this list.

How to use a scumper in practice?

Try to drive Lifehacker through the scumper. It will take you 10 minutes.

We take Lifehacker as a system that we want to improve. We select four parts. For example, idea, website, people, knowledge, content, club, life hacks, advertising, work, applications, social networks, AliExpress. You can take one piece and break it down into small pieces. For example, content - texts, videos, podcasts, games.

We fill in the scamper table. In each cell we write down 2-3 answers, no more. We enjoy ideas and choose the best ones.

	Element 1	Element 2	Element 3	Element 4
Combine: what parts can be combined, what can be added, how to make it a single whole, what can be mixed, what should grow together, how to pack it
Adapt: what else does it look like, is there a similar one, but with a different context, are there similar ideas in the past, what can be copied or borrowed, who can be imitated, how to adjust or transform
Replace: what can I replace and what, can other elements or rules be replaced, can other resources be used, what are the alternatives
Change: what can be changed, enhanced, supplemented, expanded, can I play with size, shape, color, texture, sound or smell, what will happen if the name is changed, can I change my attitude
Apply differently: what it can be used for, how it can be used differently, how can a child, old man or a person with disabilities use it, can you guess what it is for if you do not know anything at the beginning
Delete: how can I simplify this, what parts can be removed, what is not necessary, what can be ignored, what I underestimate, can it be divided into several parts, how to quickly eliminate interference, how to get to the bottom of
Swap, expand: what will happen if you start from the end or change the order of actions, how to swap parts to make it better, can another element of the system perform the function, what will happen if you change positive to negative or accidentally shuffle

Are there any helpful resources or books that will be useful to me?

Of course:

• Scumper infographics in English.
• Book "Rice Storm" by Michael Mikalko.
• Book "I Want More Ideas" by Steve Rowling.