SCAMPER: seven lenses to twist a product you already have
Run this method in IdeaHone
Creates a space with the entities and scoring criteria of this method, ready for your next session.
"We need new ideas for the product." The product has existed for twelve years, and everyone is staring at a blank wall. SCAMPER replaces the wall with seven concrete questions, each twisting what you already have in one direction. Most teams, most of the time, must improve what exists rather than invent something new, and this is the method for that.
When to use it
Use SCAMPER when the object is known and the question is what else it could be: a mature product, a feature nobody has touched in years, a process that works but annoys everyone. Without an object, start with how might we questions. The running example below is a reusable drinking bottle.
The seven lenses
Substitute
Replace a part, a material, a step or a person, starting with the component that is there only because it has always been there.
- What if the lid were silicone instead of steel?
- What if the customer chose the colour after buying, with a sleeve?
Combine
Merge the product with another product, function or audience.
- What if the bottle and the lunchbox were one object?
- What if the lid had a water filter built in?
Adapt
Borrow a solution from another industry that solved a similar problem for a different reason.
- What if the bottle used the closing mechanism of a laboratory flask?
- What if it followed the logic of razor blades: the bottle is cheap, the filters are not?
Modify (also Magnify or Minify)
Change size, shape, frequency or intensity.
- What if the bottle held 250 ml and fitted into a jacket pocket?
- What if it held two litres and sat on a desk all day?
Put to another use
Give the product, as it is, to a different user or situation.
- What if clinics used it as a measured hydration tool for patients?
- What if schools used it as the standard canteen bottle, with a deposit?
Eliminate
Remove a part, a feature or a step, and ask whether anyone would miss it.
- What if there were no lid at all, only a sealed spout?
- What if we stopped printing the logo?
Reverse (or Rearrange)
Turn the order, the role or the direction around.
- What if the customer assembled the bottle from parts?
- What if the bottle were sold empty and the drink separately?
The lenses at a glance
| Lens | Core question | Example idea (drinking bottle) |
|---|---|---|
| Substitute | What could we swap? | Silicone lid instead of steel |
| Combine | What could we merge? | Bottle and lunchbox as one object |
| Adapt | What could we borrow? | Closing mechanism from a laboratory flask |
| Modify | What could we enlarge or shrink? | 250 ml pocket version |
| Put to another use | Who else could use it? | Hydration tool for clinics |
| Eliminate | What could we leave out? | No lid, sealed spout |
| Reverse | What could we turn around? | Customer assembles it from parts |
How to run it
- Pick one object. One product, feature or process, not the company. The smaller the object, the sharper the ideas.
- Write it on the wall. One line: "The 750 ml steel bottle, as sold today."
- Take the lenses one at a time. Read the lens and its core question out loud. Three minutes of silent writing, one idea per card, then the next lens. Silence stops the loudest voice from setting the direction.
- Read out and cluster per lens. Each person reads their cards; group duplicates, keep the original wording.
- Mark the three to test. The team marks the three ideas it would actually test in the next four weeks. Dot voting is enough; for a second cut, use the impact and effort matrix.
- Record each idea with its lens. One line per idea: "Eliminate: no lid, sealed spout." The lens is the context the idea needs when it is read again in three months.
Eliminate produces the best ideas in mature products and the most resistance: every feature has someone who built it. Run it last, when the room is warm, and give it five minutes.
SCAMPER on the whole company produces slogans; "combine our two business units" is not an idea anyone can test. Keep the object small and concrete.
Four mistakes that turn SCAMPER into a word game
- Skipping the lenses that feel silly. Put to another use sounds absurd for a bottle until someone writes the clinic idea. Run all seven.
- Letting the product owner answer first. Whoever knows the product best also knows best why everything is impossible. Silent writing first, product owner reads last.
- Seven variations of the same idea. A favourite idea reappears under every lens with a new label. Name it: "That is the pocket version again. What else?"
- No record of which lens gave which idea. Without the lens, "no lid" looks like a random cut; with "Eliminate", it is a question the team asked on purpose. Write the lens into the idea's line; tools like IdeaHone keep that line with the idea.
Capture every idea while people talk
IdeaHone listens in your session and turns what people say into idea cards, questions and decisions, live on a shared board.
What does SCAMPER stand for?
Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify (also Magnify or Minify), Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse (or Rearrange). Each letter is a lens you apply to an existing product, feature or process.
When should you use SCAMPER?
When you already have something and need to improve or extend it: a mature product, a stale feature, a process everyone complains about. It is less useful for finding new markets or business models.
How long does a SCAMPER session take?
Plan 60 to 90 minutes for one object with five to eight people: five minutes to frame it, seven lenses of three to five minutes plus clustering, and fifteen minutes to choose and record the ideas to test.
