Simply think ideas further – go new ways, explore possibilities and potential. With the Scamper Method you have a great tool at hand to develop your idea or product further and to explore where the journey might take you.
The use of Scamper is most useful when an idea or product already exists. It’s not about developing an idea but to find out what else could be done with the product or idea. Where can the journey go and what are the possible steps of development. What happens if we take something away, add something or combine something. We want to explore this and explore potentials.

So what is SCAMPER

Scamper is a method in which the team develops a product or an idea in a group with the help of a visualization. Every letter in SCAMPER stands for a new approach.

S – Substitutes
C – Combine
A – Adapt
M – Modify
P – Put
E – Eliminates
R – Reverse

It is best to use a large whiteboard or a large poster which can be placed on a table. The idea or product is placed in the middle. One keyword is enough here. Now the 7 fields (letters) are placed or drawn all around. The team stands around the table so that everyone can start at one of the fields.

So what is SCAMPER

Everyone now begins to change in thought in the product exactly what the letter before him now expects. Substitute, Combine, Adapt … and writes this in short keywords to the respective letter. Once this has been done, the next letter is added. This must still happen in turn. To the field, to which I can think of something, I then simply write something in addition. Everything the team can think of is then written down on the canvas or poster. The best thing is to give the team a time limit for this task to set a frame. 5 to 10 minutes should be a good size here.

Let’s take a closer look at the fields

S – Subsidiaries
We’re replacing something. We take something off the product and replace it with something else. Then we see what possibilities arise. Or we replace an aspect of an idea. A function that we don’t want to consider differently. It is important that something is replaced.

C – Combine
We add something. Something new is added and this creates new possibilities. Material or functional. Or even another product. Something is added and through this something new

A – Adapt
We change the product. A function or a property is changed. Mostly it is a matter of adapting something. We add new functions. We add new aspects. This can result in a new application.

M – Modify
We increase or decrease. We change the characteristics of the product, make it very large or very small. Very fast, very slow. Everything is possible. We think big and approach the limits of what is possible. With Modify we change the characteristics up or down.

P – Put
“Put into another use” – With Put we change the purpose of the product. Can the product or the idea be used in other fields? Which problem can perhaps be solved in this way.

E – Eliminate
We’re removing something. In contrast to substitution, functions or properties are now completely removed and we see what our product becomes. We can also reduce the product to the minimum and see what is left.

R – Reverse
Let’s turn this whole thing around. With Reverse we turn the whole thing upside down and see what comes out if you look at it completely upside down. What are the possibilities.

This is SCAMPER

The Scamper method is a nice way to find out what else you could do with an idea. to explore possibilities and potentials. After the first ideas, the method develops its own dynamic because the ideas of the colleagues always lead to new ideas and so it continues until the end of time. The participants inspire each other through their work. It is also important that everyone is aware that no idea is too stupid. Everything possible is put on the wall. Even an idea that is not feasible may serve as inspiration for other ways. It is here, as with many other methods, to collect as much as possible and to think new ways.