# SCAMPER

Bob Eberle, 1971, building on Alex Osborn's brainstorming checklist (1953). Seven systematic transformations of an existing thing.

## When to use

- You have a base idea and want variations cheaply
- Group brainstorming with mixed expertise
- Forcing breadth past the first instinct
- Teaching ideation

## Don't use when

- Blank page — SCAMPER amplifies a base; doesn't generate from nothing
- You need depth in one direction (SCAMPER produces breadth)
- The problem is analyzing an existing system, not modifying it

## The seven operators

**S — Substitute.** Replace a component, material, person, place, or process. *(Steel→aluminum, scheduled meetings→async docs, human→model, recipe ingredient swap.)*

**C — Combine.** Merge two things. Functions, parts, audiences, formats. *(Phone+camera+GPS→smartphone. Memoir+cookbook→food memoir. Programmer+linguist→compiler designer.)*

**A — Adapt.** Borrow from another field. *(Velcro from burrs. Toyota's just-in-time from supermarket restocking. Graphic novel from cinematic technique.)*

**M — Modify (or Magnify / Minify).** Change a property — scale, frequency, intensity, color, weight, shape. *(Twitter that posts once a year. Novel as one page. Same content as comic, song, sculpture.)*

**P — Put to other uses.** Use the existing thing for a different purpose. *(Aspirin: pain reliever → stroke prevention. Blockchain: cryptocurrency → supply chain. Sweater: garment → kiln cushioning.)*

**E — Eliminate.** Remove a component. **Usually the highest-leverage cell.** *(Eliminate UI: CLI/API as product. Eliminate menu: omakase, single-dish restaurant. Eliminate explanation: Eno's *Music for Airports*.)*

**R — Reverse / Rearrange.** Invert relationships, change sequence, turn inside out. *(Priceline reverses seller/buyer. Wikipedia reverses expert/amateur. *Memento* reverses time order.)*

## Procedure

1. State the base in one precise sentence.
2. Run all seven operators. **Don't skip cells.** The cells you don't want to run are usually where the surprise is.
3. Read the seven. Most will be slop; one or two will be interesting; one might be surprising.
4. Take the surprising one and elaborate.
5. Discard the rest.

## Worked example

**Base**: a web app that tracks reading progress across books.

- S: track your *boredom*, not progress — when did you stop and why?
- C: tracker + bookstore (already done; weak)
- A: gym-app habit tracking (slop; reading is not fitness)
- M: track only one book at a time, in extreme detail — every paragraph, every margin note
- P: not tracking *your* reading but tracking *the book's* — which paragraphs do most readers stop on?
- E: eliminate the tracking — keep the database of paragraphs as a "this is where I cried" annotation layer
- R: instead of you tracking the book, the book tracks you — delivers itself in chunks based on your demonstrated rhythm

Strongest cells: S, P, R. Elaborate P: a site where the unit of attention is the *paragraph* across the readerly population, not the book. Discard the rest.

## Anti-slop notes

- Most common SCAMPER slop: "Combine X with AI/ML/blockchain/AR". Reject.
- Second most common: "make it a subscription" (business-model shift, not product variation).
- Surface 1–3 results to the user, not 7. The seven are internal scaffolding.
- Eliminate and Reverse produce the strongest non-slop output. Spend most of the budget there.

Source: Eberle, *Scamper: Games for Imagination Development* (DOK, 1971); Osborn, *Applied Imagination* (Scribner's, 1953).
