What is it?

SCAMPER is a structured creative thinking technique that uses seven types of questions to help a group rethink an existing product, service, process, or idea. The acronym stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Reverse. Rather than staring at a blank page and hoping for inspiration, the facilitator walks the group through each lens in turn, asking targeted questions that force people to look at familiar things from unfamiliar angles. Each round generates a cluster of ideas that range from practical tweaks to wild leaps. The group then sifts through everything and pulls out the strongest possibilities. It works because most innovation comes from reworking what already exists rather than inventing from scratch.

Also Known As

• SCAMPER Technique

When to Use It

• You need to improve or refresh an existing product, service, or process rather than create something brand new
• The group is stuck in "we've always done it this way" thinking and needs structured prompts to break out
• You want to generate a high volume of ideas in a short time with a team that includes non-creative-types
• A brainstorming session has stalled and you need a second-stage tool to push thinking further
• You are running a design sprint or innovation workshop and want a concrete ideation method
• The challenge is well-defined and you have a clear subject to apply the questions to (a specific product, workflow, or offering)
• You want to involve people at all levels without requiring artistic, design, or specialist skills

When NOT to Use It

• The group has no clear subject to work with. SCAMPER needs a specific product, process, or idea as its starting point. Without one, the questions feel abstract and the session drifts.
• You need to explore a wide-open strategic question like "what business should we be in?" SCAMPER is better for refining the known than discovering the unknown.
• The team needs to solve a people or relationship problem. SCAMPER is for things and processes, not interpersonal dynamics.
• There is no appetite or authority to change the thing being examined. Running SCAMPER on something the organisation will never let anyone touch creates frustration, not innovation.
• The group is too large to manage question-by-question facilitation. Beyond about 30 people, the technique becomes hard to run without breaking into sub-groups.

SCAMPER was created by Bob Eberle, an educational administrator from Edwardsville, Illinois, and published in his 1971 book SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development. Eberle built the technique on the foundation of Alex Osborn's "Idea-Spurring Checklist" from Applied Imagination (1953), condensing Osborn's extensive list of creative prompts into a memorable seven-letter acronym. Originally designed to foster creativity in children, SCAMPER was adopted by the business and design communities and is now one of the most widely used structured ideation tools in innovation workshops worldwide.

What You Need

Group size: 4 to 30 people. Works best with 8 to 16 in a single group. For larger numbers, split into sub-groups of 4 to 6 and run SCAMPER in parallel.

Time required:

• 45 minutes (quick version, 3 to 4 lenses only)
• 60 to 90 minutes (full seven lenses)
• 2 hours (full session with evaluation and action planning).

Space:

• A room with wall space or whiteboards for posting outputs from each round
• Tables for small groups if running parallel sub-groups
• Enough room for people to stand and move to different stations if using a gallery approach

Materials:

• 7 flip chart sheets or large paper, each labelled with one SCAMPER letter and its meaning
• Marker pens (one per person or per small group)
• Sticky notes in multiple colours
• A timer visible to the group
• A printed or projected SCAMPER question bank for reference
• Dot stickers for voting (if evaluating ideas in the same session)

The Process

Setup

1. Prepare seven flip chart stations around the room, each clearly labelled: S (Substitute), C (Combine), A (Adapt), M (Modify/Magnify/Minify), P (Put to other uses), E (Eliminate), R (Reverse/Rearrange).
2. Write 3 to 5 starter questions under each letter. Use the SCAMPER Question Bank as your source.
3. Place sticky notes and markers at each station.
4. Decide whether you will run the session as a single group working through each lens together, or as rotating sub-groups (carousel style). For groups over 12, the carousel approach works better.
5. Prepare a clear description of the subject the group will be working on. Write it on a central flip chart or project it on screen. Be specific: "Our customer onboarding process" is better than "how we work with customers."
6. If running with sub-groups, assign starting stations and plan the rotation order.

Step 1: Frame the Subject

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

Purpose: Make sure everyone understands what they are working on before the questions start flying.

1. Present the subject clearly. Say something like: "Today we are going to take our [product/process/service] and look at it through seven different lenses. Each lens asks a different type of question. The goal is volume, not polish. We want as many ideas as possible, and we will sort them later."
2. Give a brief overview of what the subject currently looks like. If it is a process, walk through the steps. If it is a product, describe its key features. Keep this to 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Explain the SCAMPER framework. Walk past each station and read out the letter and its meaning. Say: "Each of these is a different way of asking 'what if?' You do not need to be an expert. The best ideas often come from someone asking a naive question."
4. Set ground rules: quantity over quality, build on others' ideas, no evaluation during the idea rounds, one idea per sticky note.

Step 2: Generate Ideas (SCAMPER Rounds)

Time: 35 to 50 minutes (5 to 7 minutes per lens)

Purpose: Use each SCAMPER lens to generate a cluster of ideas from a different angle.

1. Start with Substitute. Read 2 to 3 of the starter questions aloud. For example: "What materials, components, or people could we replace? What other process could we use instead? What would happen if we swapped X for Y?"
2. Give the group 5 to 7 minutes to write ideas on sticky notes and place them on the flip chart. If working in sub-groups, each group works at their assigned station.
3. Call time and move to the next lens. If using the carousel approach, groups rotate to the next station and read what the previous group wrote before adding their own ideas.
4. Repeat for Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Reverse/Rearrange.
5. At each station, read out 2 to 3 of the relevant questions to prime thinking. Vary which questions you use based on the group's energy and the subject.

Watch for:

• Groups that get stuck on one lens. If a particular letter is not generating ideas, say: "If nothing is coming, move on. Not every lens will spark something for every subject."
• The energy drop that often hits around Modify or Put to Other Uses (the middle of the sequence). Pick up the pace or throw in an unexpected question to re-energise.
• People self-censoring or discussing ideas instead of writing them. Remind them: "Write first, talk later. Get it on a sticky note."

Step 3: Gallery Review

Time: 10 minutes

Purpose: Let everyone see the full landscape of ideas before any evaluation begins.

1. Once all seven rounds are complete, invite the whole group to walk around the room and read every station.
2. Say: "Take 10 minutes to read through everything. Put a small tick on any sticky note that catches your eye or sparks a further thought. Do not remove or reorganise anything yet."
3. Allow people to add new sticky notes if the gallery walk triggers fresh ideas.

Step 4: Cluster and Evaluate

Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Purpose: Sort the raw ideas into themes and identify the strongest candidates.

1. Bring the group together. Ask: "What patterns do you see? Are there ideas that appeared under multiple lenses?"
2. Work with the group to cluster related ideas into themes on a clean wall or table. Give each cluster a working title.
3. Once clustered, use dot voting to identify the ideas with the most energy. Give each person 3 to 5 dot stickers and say: "Vote for the ideas you think have the most potential. You can spread your dots or put them all on one idea."
4. Count the dots and identify the top 3 to 5 ideas or clusters.

Watch for:

• The temptation to evaluate too early. If people start debating feasibility during clustering, say: "We are sorting, not judging. Feasibility comes next."
• Dominant voices steering the group toward their preferred ideas. The dot vote keeps it democratic.

Closing

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

1. Read out the top-voted ideas. For each one, ask: "Who is willing to take this forward? What is the first step?"
2. Capture owners and next steps on a flip chart or shared document.
3. Photograph all seven stations and the final clusters. These are your raw material for follow-up.
4. Close by saying: "We started with one [product/process/service] and now have [number] directions we could take it. The next step is to test the strongest ones. Thank you for your thinking."

Facilitator Guidance

What Makes This Work

SCAMPER works because it replaces the vague instruction "be creative" with specific, concrete questions. Each lens forces the brain to look at the subject from a different angle, which disrupts habitual thinking patterns. The structured rotation through all seven lenses means the group covers a wide creative territory rather than getting stuck in one mode. The technique also levels the playing field: you do not need to be a "creative person" to answer "what could we eliminate?" The questions do the heavy lifting, and participants simply respond to them. This makes it one of the most accessible ideation tools for mixed groups.

Common Pitfalls

• Vague subject definition: If the group is not clear on what they are applying SCAMPER to, the ideas will be scattered and unusable. Spend the time upfront to define the subject in specific terms.
• Treating all seven lenses as mandatory: Some lenses will not fit every subject. If Adapt is generating nothing useful, skip it or shorten it. Forcing all seven when only five are productive wastes energy.
• Spending too long on each round: The power of SCAMPER is in the pace. If you give people 15 minutes per lens, they overthink. Keep it to 5 to 7 minutes and let the time pressure do its job.
• Skipping the evaluation step: A wall covered in 200 sticky notes with no sorting or voting leaves the group overwhelmed. Always build in time to cluster and prioritise.
• Running it without a real subject: SCAMPER used as a generic "creativity exercise" with a made-up scenario feels pointless to adult participants. Use a real challenge the group cares about.
• Facilitator reading every question: Pick 2 to 3 questions per lens and let the group run. Reading the full question bank aloud turns the session into a lecture.

Adaptations

• Virtual/remote delivery: Use a digital whiteboard (Miro, Mural, FigJam) with seven labelled zones. Participants add digital sticky notes simultaneously. Use a timer on screen and the facilitator reads questions aloud or drops them in the chat. Works well because silent writing is already the default mode.
• Quick version (30 to 45 minutes): Pick the 3 to 4 lenses most relevant to the subject and skip the rest. Good for team meetings where you want structured thinking without a full workshop.
• Individual pre-work: Send participants the SCAMPER questions in advance and ask them to bring 2 to 3 ideas per lens. The session then starts with sharing and building rather than cold-start generation.
• Combined with other techniques: Use SCAMPER as the divergent phase, then feed the top ideas into a Decision Matrix or Dot Voting for convergence. Pairs well with Reverse Brainstorming if you want to stress-test ideas afterward.
• Product teams: Focus on Substitute, Combine, and Eliminate for feature prioritisation. These three lenses are the most directly applicable to product decisions.

Real-World Applications

Refreshing a stale training programme: An L&D team applied SCAMPER to their annual compliance training. The Substitute lens led them to replace video modules with peer-led scenario discussions. The Eliminate lens helped them cut 40% of redundant content. The revised programme saw a measurable jump in completion rates and feedback scores.

Improving a customer onboarding process: A SaaS company used SCAMPER in a cross-functional workshop with sales, support, and product teams. The Combine lens suggested merging the welcome email and first training session into a single live walkthrough. The Reverse lens led them to let customers set their own onboarding pace rather than following a fixed schedule. Time-to-value dropped noticeably.

Redesigning a team meeting structure: A department head ran a 45-minute SCAMPER session with their leadership team, focused on their weekly operations meeting. The Eliminate lens identified three standing agenda items nobody found useful. The Adapt lens borrowed a "lightning update" format from another department. The meeting went from 90 minutes to 50.

Generating new service offerings: A consultancy used the full SCAMPER workshop on their core advisory service. The Put to Other Uses lens revealed that their diagnostic framework could be packaged as a self-service assessment tool. The Modify lens suggested a scaled-down version for small businesses. Both became new revenue streams within six months.

Rethinking event design: A conference organiser applied SCAMPER to their annual event format. The Reverse lens prompted them to let attendees set the agenda (borrowing from Open Space Technology). The Combine lens merged the networking drinks and closing keynote into a "keynote conversation" format. Attendee satisfaction scores increased the following year.