Missing Sheet Title
The ultimate
SCAMPER list
  Substitute
    Things
    Can you use this idea in a different place?
    Change its process or procedure
    Other person or people
    Ideas
    Emotions
    Who else instead?
    What else instead?
    Other place
    Other part?
    Other process?
    Other plan/goal?
    Ingredients or materials
    Other approach
    Package
    Message
    Environment
    Different perspective
    Other rules
    Can I replace or change any parts?
    Can I replace someone involved?
    Change its shape
    Change its name
    Other people's or your feelings or attitude?
    Other sounds
    Other forces\
    Other power
    Other time
  Combine
    Purpose of object with something else
    Uses with something else
    Functions with something else
    Assortment
    Ensemble
    Into single unit
    Materials
    Ingredients
    Packaging
    Appeal with something else
    One of your ideas with another
    What can be merged together?
    What parts or ideas can be combined?
    What ideas or objects can I merge it with?
    Talents
    What can you blend together?
    What kind of alloy can you create?
  Adapt
    What else is like this subject, but in a different context?
    What situations are similar?
    What other ideas does it suggest?
    What can be adapted from these ideas?
    What has worked before?
    What could you copy?
    What might you adapt for use as a solution?
    What have others done?
    What have professionals done?
    Similar problem like yours that has been solved?
    Can you put your subject into a different context?
    Can you put it in a n unusual context?
    Can you put it in a different or unusual context?
    Can you adapt something from nature?
    Can you make analogies between your subject and the seasons?
    Is there something similar to it, but in a different context?
    What can you copy, borrow or steal?
    Whom could you emulate or imitate?
    What ideas could you incorporate?
    What processes can be adapted?
    What ideas outside your field can you incorporate?
    Does the past offer a parallel?
    Who could you copy?
    How can circumstances be adapted?
  Magnify
    What can you add?
    Exaggerate or overstate your subject
    Extend your subject
    What can be made larger?
    Add more strengths
    Maximize existing strengths
    Can something be done faster?
    Can something be done with greater frequency?
    What might add extra value?
    Can extra features be added?
    Can you make it stronger?
    Can you make it higher or longer?
    Can you make it safer?
    Can you make it thicker?
    More convenient?
    More accurate?
    More reliable?
    Can you make it do more things?
    Can you find more uses?
    Increase functions
    What can be duplicated?
    What can be repeated?
    What can be multiplied?
    Can the subject be broadened?
    Can it be restated in more global terms?
    What's missing that could be useful?
    What could be carried to a dramatic extreme?
    What if you had all the resources in the world?
    More time
    Add ingredients
    What can be extended?
  Modify
    What can be altered for the better?
    Meaning
    Purpose
    Uses
    Dimensions
    Limits
    Process
    Character
    Form
    Function
    Shape
    Motion
    Name
    Rules
    Make it more attractive
    More appealing
    Change the package
    What can you do differently?
    How would a stranger view your challenge?
    Restate your challenge 10 different ways
    Color
    Smell
    Sound
    Altered for the better
    Package
    Plan
  Rearrange
    How else can this subject be arranged?
    What other arrangements might be better?
    What would happen if you interchanged parts or components?
    Can you change the order?
    Can you draw your subject?
    Can you diagram your subject?
    Can you chart it?
    Other sequence
    Change the timing or schedule
    Change the pace
    Change the schedule of delivery
    Set a different tempo
    Set a deadline
    Transpose cause and effect
    What might be altered?
    What might be counteracted?
    What if you rearranged the way you work on this problem?
    Rearrange your environment
    Rearrange your priorities
    Rearrange people
    Rearrange habits
    Change the layout
    Change the pattern
    Transpose positives and negatives\
    Turn it around\
      Up instead of down
      Down instead of up
      Backwards
    What if you do the exact opposite of what you intended?
    Interchange components
    What if roles were reversed?
  Reverse
    What are the opposites of the idea?
    Reverse the way you look at your subject
    Turn it around
    Up instead of down
    Play devil's advocate with it
    Reversed relationships
    Uses
    Functions
    Goals
    Ideas
    Roles
    Reverse your assumptions about the subject
    Reframe the negatives into positives
    Work backwards from desired result to your subject
    Imagine your self as member of opposite sex
    Reverse your point of view on the subject
    What if you did the unexpected?
    How can you turn the tables?
    What surprises can you pull off?
    What are the negatives of the idea?
  Eliminate
    What if your subject was smaller?
    What if it had less of something?
    What parts are non-essential or unnecessary?
    What could you omit or leave out without altering its function?
    Delete?
    What's the downside?
    What are the roadblocks?
    Can the negatives be eliminated?
    Can the negatives be overcome?
    Where do you fall short?
    Can the rules be eliminated?
    What isn't the problem?
    What really matters?
    What's not necessary?
    What if nothing is done?
    Can you let go of the subject?
    Eliminate waste
  Put to other uses
    New ways to use as is?
    Modify it for a new use
    Make it do more things
    Other functions
    Other purposes
    Other relationships
    Extensions
    Spinoffs
    What uses would a 12-year-old kid imagine?
    What's being wasted that could be put to use?
    What else could be made from the subject?
    Other markets or industries with some modification
    Other fields?
    Other regions?
    Other countries?
    Most unconventional use?
    Most bizarre new use?
    Most practical new use?
    Silliest new use?
    How will your subject be used in 10 years?
    What else could it be used for?
    Used by people other than those it was intended for?
      People with disabilities
      Children
      Older person
    New ways to use if it was modified?
    What other people could you reach with it?
  Minify
    What can you remove?
    What can you make smaller?
    What can you condense?
    Simplify it
    Subtract?
    Can you divide it?
    Miniaturize
    Lower
    Lighter
    Shorter
    Omit
    Streamline
    Make it compact
    Split up
    Understate it
    Can the negatives be minimized?
    Can the rules be simplified?
    How can you limit this problem?
    What's the narrowest definition of your challenge?
    What if you divide it into sub-problems?
    More restricted
    Slower
    Less frequent
    Less value
    Lower cost
    Less waste
    Less effort
  INSTRUCTIONS
During the last several decades, one of the most widely used and successful brainstorming techniques has been SCAMPER. Its name is a mnemonic for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate and Reverse/Rearrange.
It forces you to look at challenges or problems from a variety of creative perspectives. In so doing, it whacks you out of your usual, rutted mode of thinking and often yields valuable, creative ideas. In short, it’s popular because it works!
How can you use SCAMPER with a mind map? Simply place each of the keywords on first-level branches, and then think about them, one at a time, in terms of the creative problem you need to solve.
Just pick an item from the list of prompts. If it causes your brain to generate an idea, capture it right away. If not, pick another one.
Happy idea hunting!
Chuck Frey
Visual Velocity
(formerly the Mind Mapping Software Blog)
mindmappingsoftwareblog.com
chuck@chuckfrey.com