SCAMPER METHOD: HOW IT IS APPLIED, VERBS AND EXAMPLES - ARTE - 2025

The SCAMPER method is a technique that consists of a set of questions and action verbs that help people to solve problems creatively. The process consists of Replace, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Reposition, Delete and Reorder.

Although some people are more creative than others, creativity is an innate ability in the human being. However, that does not mean that it cannot be learned or perfected. Many circumstances can cause the person to lose their connection with creativity. And techniques like SCAMPER help reconnect.

This technique is derived from another even better known, which is, nothing more and nothing less than the storm or brainstorming. In the mid-20th century, Bob Eberle created SCAMPER based on Alex Osborn's brainstorming, with the idea that it would be more organized and easier to remember.

The fundamental idea is that a person or a group of people ask themselves the questions of the action verbs replace, combine, adapt, modify, propose, eliminate and rearrange. It is a kind of checklist to improve or modify a product, service, process or related. This, starting from the premise that everything that exists is an adaptation of something that already existed.

SCAMPER verbs

Before explaining how the SCAMPER technique is applied, it is essential to know, in their correct order, the meaning of each of the letters of this word or, what is the same, the action verbs to which the technique refers. These components are clear in the following table.

Application process

1-Identify the problem to solve or the idea to create

The first step may seem like the easiest, but it is not always. Knowing how to define what the problem is requires precision and knowing the situation very well. If the problem is defined in a very vague way, the answers to the questions will not go deep enough.

One strategy to do this is to divide the definition of the problem into three elements. First, the problem itself, then a hypothetical solution (never mind that it doesn't look positive), and finally a statement. That means transforming the problem and the solution into a positive statement or phrase.

For example, if the problem were "How can the smell of garbage be eliminated at home?", The solution could be "with vacuum-sealed bins". From this, it could be asserted "Through the use of vacuum sealed bins the smell of garbage is eliminated in the home". This would serve as a starting point for the next phase.

2-Ask the SCAMPER questions

The second step would be to ask and answer the SCAMPER questions. And since this technique derives from brainstorming, doing it while following the principles of brainstorming is an excellent option. That is, dedicating a short but intense time to exploration, not censoring any idea, writing down everything and seeking collective participation.

For example, it would be useful to dedicate 2 or 3 minutes to each action verb if you are already part of one of the SCAMPER question lists, such as the one offered in this article. It can be given up to 5 minutes per verb if the questions will also be developed from scratch. You can choose someone to write down, or everyone to write down everything they can.

3-Organize the answers

After this phase is finished, you will have a lot of ideas, questions and answers, but they will be very messy. Therefore, the third phase is to order everything that was produced in the previous phase. But this is not yet the time to judge or censor ideas, so they must be organized in such a way that none is left out, no matter how absurd it may seem.

4-Evaluate ideas

The fourth step is, now, to evaluate the ideas derived from step two. Here it will be very useful to return to the description of the problem and the assertion, as these components can serve as markers for the criteria for selecting ideas to use and discard. Sometimes the statement will change, but the problem must remain intact.

An important question in this phase is to notice if some of the ideas contributed that do not help to solve the problem can be useful to solve others.

It is quite common for novel ideas for more than one situation to emerge from a single SCAMPER exercise. So these options should not be discarded and are worth exploring further later.

5-Select ideas

The last phase of the application of the SCAMPER technique would be to select the ideas that emerged as the best candidates to solve the problem. This would require writing a justification for why these ideas might be useful and a brief presentation of them. Then, it would only be necessary to put these ideas to the test.

Question suggestions for each verb

Whatever you want to create, solve, modify, improve or promote, these basic questions can be adapted to use SCAMPER. At the end of each verb, a matrix question is included, which tries to cover the others.

S for Substitute

• Can one part, component or part be substituted for another?
• Can the people in charge be replaced?
• Can the target population be replaced or changed?
• Can a rule, law, norm or principle be substituted or changed?
• Can this service be replaced by another?
• Can this consumer / creator response / emotion be substituted for another?
• Can that procedure be substituted?
• Can that ingredient or material be substituted?
• Can the role / position played / performed by that person / team be replaced?
• What else can be substituted?

Matrix question: Which element (s) can I substitute and which one (s) not from my solution?

C for Combine

• Can different components, parts or pieces be combined?
• Can ideas, strategies, premises, objectives or solutions be merged?
• Can people / teams of different divisions / abilities mix?
• Can different services be merged?
• Can different procedures be combined?
• Can the uses given to the object / service be merged?
• Can different materials or ingredients be combined?
• Can this solution be merged with the competition?
• Can previously combined elements recombine?
• What else can you combine?

Matrix question: What internal and / or external factors to the context of my solution can be combined part or all of said solution?

A to Adapt

• Can any function, utility or benefit be adapted?
• Can a component, part, or part fit?
• Can an idea, strategy, premise, goal, or solution be adapted?
• Can it be adapted to another country, market, target audience or need?
• Can you adapt to solve another problem simultaneously?
• Can the service be adapted?
• Can the law, norm, rule or principle be adapted?
• Can the format be adapted?
• Can you continue to adapt as the context continues to change?
• What else can be adapted?

Matrix question: How can my solution and / or some (some of its) element (s) be adapted to solve other problem (s)?

M for Modify and Magnify

• Can any function, utility or benefit be magnified?
• Can the target market or audience be increased?
• Can it be exaggerated or oversized without losing meaning?
• Can it be modified to be stronger, more durable, faster, more efficient, smarter, etc.?
• Can the work team and / or production be expanded?
• Can the user experience or their appreciation of the service or product be improved?
• Can the material benefits or rewards received be increased?
• Can its name, size, color, texture, meaning, presentation, layout, marketing, etc. be modified?
• Can its credibility or popularity be magnified?
• Can it go viral?
• What else can be modified or magnified?
• How much more and by how much more can it be magnified before reaching the ceiling?

Matrix question: What elements of my solution and how can they be modified in order to magnify its scope and / or exceed its limits?

P for Proposing other Uses

• Can it be used for something different?
• Can it be used in a different way?
• Can it be used by different people, animals or institutions (or also objects or services)?
• Can the schemes, rules or conventions on its use be broken?
• Could it be considered multi-use, cross-platform, etc.?
• Can the consumer, user or recipient create new uses, solutions or improvements through their own creativity?
• In addition to the main and added uses, can it present an added value on an emotional, spiritual or transcendental level?
• What other uses can it be given?

Matrix question: What other uses or added values ​​can be given to the elements or the entirety of my solution, on their own account or by their recipients?

E for Delete or Minimize

• Can any function, utility or benefit be removed?
• Can it be minimized or limited to the basics without losing its essence?
• Can it be modified to be smaller, lighter, smoother, simpler, shorter, etc.?
• Can materials, ingredients, components, parts or parts be removed?
• Can any part of the procedure be eliminated?
• Can the work team or production time or effort be reduced?
• Can part of the user experience be removed without changing their appreciation of the service or product?
• Can the expenses or material investments made be minimized?
• Can the need for repair, upgrade or changes be minimized?
• Can errors, risks or accidents of possible occurrence be minimized?
• Can its credibility or popularity be magnified?
• What else can be eliminated or minimized?
• How much more and by how much more can it be minimized before bottoming out?

Matrix question: What elements of my solution and how can they be eliminated or minimized without reducing their quality, relevance or importance, or losing their essence?

R for Reorder and Reverse

• Can the different parts of the procedure be rearranged or reversed?
• Can the people / teams involved be reordered?
• Can the roles / positions of the people / teams involved be reversed?
• Can the strategies, premises, objectives or solutions be rearranged?
• Can components, formats or models be interchanged?
• Can the work or action plan be altered?
• Can the calendar of events, priorities or needs be rearranged?
• Can the logic of the solution be reversed?
• Can the story, plot, or explanation be rearranged or reversed without losing its meaning?
• What else can be rearranged or reversed?

Matrix question: What elements of my solution and how can they be rearranged or reversed without reducing their quality, relevance or importance, or losing their essence?

Application examples

Fried egg recipe

An example of applying this technique would be when creating a recipe (fried egg):

• What ingredients can I substitute? (S). Butter could be used instead of oil to fry it.
• What cooking techniques can I combine? (C). You could use another way than frying it to cook it.
• How do I adapt it to my country? (TO). If it's hot in my country, I could cook it on a clean, hot stone.
• How could you change its flavor? (M). You could add ingredients that grow locally.
• What other uses can be proposed? (P). It could be a work of art.
• What can be removed? (AND). We can eliminate the use of salt.
• What can be reordered? (R). Can we cook the egg in another order? For example, you could cook the egg first.

As you can see, this technique makes you question things that you would not do, giving itself an original result.

Creation of virtual course

The problem in question is framed in the creation of a virtual course. The teacher or group of teachers who are creating it anticipate the difficulty of achieving student interaction in collaborative activities and wonder how they could encourage greater participation from all those involved.

In order to start with the SCAMPER technique, a hypothetical or working solution is given, which textually indicates the following: Allow “… the students to propose situations from their community to deal with them within collaborative activities”. Based on this, an assertion was written and questions were addressed.

In this link you can access the PDF document with the application example of the SCAMPER technique. As in any application of this technique, none of the answers, ideas or solutions raised is or should be considered definitive. It is perfectly possible for anyone to come up with a better idea for the same problem.

With all these elements at stake, then, the versatility and usefulness of this technique can be clearly seen to promote creative solutions to any type of problem. The invitation is to try it and discover its benefits on your own. And they can leave their comments if they do or have already done so.