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The optional-skills copy was still the v1.0.0 constraint-dispatch skill (SKILL.md + full-prompt-library.md only). This brings it up to the current tool: a situation-routed library of 22 named ideation methods drawn from working artists, scientists, designers, and writers. SKILL.md becomes a 4-step router (extract PHASE/DOMAIN/SPECIFICITY signals → apply overrides → route phase-then-domain → resolve ambiguity), with anti-slop operating rules and an anti-default check. Adds: - 22 method files under references/methods/ — oblique-strategies (Eno/Schmidt), oulipo, scamper, lateral-provocations (de Bono), triz (Altshuller), leverage-points (Meadows), pattern-languages (Alexander), compression-progress (Schmidhuber), analogy-and-blending, pataphysics, first-principles, polya, biomimicry, volume-generation, creative-discipline, premortem-and-inversion, defamiliarization, derive-and-mapping, affinity-diagrams, jobs-to-be-done, story-skeletons, chance-and-remix. Each: when/when-not, the actual cards/principles/operators, a procedure, a worked example, anti-slop notes. - references/method-catalog.md (index + when-to-use), heuristics.md (extended decision tree), anti-slop.md (rules applied to every output), exercises.md (time-boxed exercises). - full-prompt-library.md restructured into domain-affinity sections (general / software / physical / social / lists) so the no-direction default isn't developer-biased. Frontmatter: name aligned to directory slug (creative-ideation, folding in the fix from #18084); version 2.0.0→2.1.0; platforms field preserved. Original wttdotm-derived constraint dispatch is kept as the default path. Supersedes #19295 (which targeted the pre-move skills/ path). Co-authored-by: SHL0MS <SHL0MS@users.noreply.github.com>
63 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
63 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
# SCAMPER
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Bob Eberle, 1971, building on Alex Osborn's brainstorming checklist (1953). Seven systematic transformations of an existing thing.
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## When to use
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- You have a base idea and want variations cheaply
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- Group brainstorming with mixed expertise
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- Forcing breadth past the first instinct
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- Teaching ideation
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## Don't use when
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- Blank page — SCAMPER amplifies a base; doesn't generate from nothing
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- You need depth in one direction (SCAMPER produces breadth)
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- The problem is analyzing an existing system, not modifying it
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## The seven operators
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**S — Substitute.** Replace a component, material, person, place, or process. *(Steel→aluminum, scheduled meetings→async docs, human→model, recipe ingredient swap.)*
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**C — Combine.** Merge two things. Functions, parts, audiences, formats. *(Phone+camera+GPS→smartphone. Memoir+cookbook→food memoir. Programmer+linguist→compiler designer.)*
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**A — Adapt.** Borrow from another field. *(Velcro from burrs. Toyota's just-in-time from supermarket restocking. Graphic novel from cinematic technique.)*
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**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.)*
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**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.)*
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**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*.)*
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**R — Reverse / Rearrange.** Invert relationships, change sequence, turn inside out. *(Priceline reverses seller/buyer. Wikipedia reverses expert/amateur. *Memento* reverses time order.)*
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## Procedure
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1. State the base in one precise sentence.
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2. Run all seven operators. **Don't skip cells.** The cells you don't want to run are usually where the surprise is.
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3. Read the seven. Most will be slop; one or two will be interesting; one might be surprising.
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4. Take the surprising one and elaborate.
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5. Discard the rest.
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## Worked example
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**Base**: a web app that tracks reading progress across books.
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- S: track your *boredom*, not progress — when did you stop and why?
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- C: tracker + bookstore (already done; weak)
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- A: gym-app habit tracking (slop; reading is not fitness)
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- M: track only one book at a time, in extreme detail — every paragraph, every margin note
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- P: not tracking *your* reading but tracking *the book's* — which paragraphs do most readers stop on?
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- E: eliminate the tracking — keep the database of paragraphs as a "this is where I cried" annotation layer
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- R: instead of you tracking the book, the book tracks you — delivers itself in chunks based on your demonstrated rhythm
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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.
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## Anti-slop notes
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- Most common SCAMPER slop: "Combine X with AI/ML/blockchain/AR". Reject.
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- Second most common: "make it a subscription" (business-model shift, not product variation).
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- Surface 1–3 results to the user, not 7. The seven are internal scaffolding.
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- Eliminate and Reverse produce the strongest non-slop output. Spend most of the budget there.
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Source: Eberle, *Scamper: Games for Imagination Development* (DOK, 1971); Osborn, *Applied Imagination* (Scribner's, 1953).
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