SUMMARY OF SCAMPER

SUMMARY OF SCAMPER

Substitute (S): This technique focuses on replacing specific parts, materials, people, or processes with alternatives to improve performance, reduce costs, or enhance sustainability. It challenges innovators to experiment by asking, "What can be swapped out without compromising the core value?".

Combine (C): This lens involves merging two or more distinct features, functions, or systems to create a new, synergistic solution. Driven by combinatorial creativity, it asks, "What happens if we merge unrelated ideas to create a more holistic value proposition?".

Adapt (A): Adaptation is the practice of borrowing successful concepts, processes, or mechanisms from completely different domains, industries, or nature (biomimicry) and adjusting them to fit a new context. It relies on analogical thinking, asking, "How is this problem solved elsewhere that we can copy?".

Modify / Magnify / Minify (M): This prompt encourages altering the fundamental attributes of a product or process, such as its size, shape, color, or frequency. By exaggerating (magnifying) features to emphasize utility or shrinking (minifying) elements to improve portability, organizations can dramatically shift user value perception.

Put to Another Use (P): Often described as the ultimate repurposing strategy, this involves identifying secondary, entirely new applications for existing products, resources, data, or waste. It helps extend asset lifecycles and tap into new markets by asking, "How can this be used in a way it was never intended?".

Eliminate (E): Centered on the principle of simplification, this technique requires removing unnecessary features, redundant steps, or non-value-adding components. By asking, "What can I remove to make this simpler?", organizations can streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve user-friendliness.

Reverse / Rearrange (R): Also known as "The Paradigm Flip," this lens challenges the status quo by inverting assumptions, flipping roles, or completely changing the sequential order of a process. It uncovers counterintuitive efficiencies and operational blind spots by asking, "What if I did the exact opposite or changed the order of steps?".