Streamline Training & Documentation: S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

My favorite technique for going from the germ of an idea, to an array of creative offshoots, is S.C.A.M.P.E.R.

To build from your starting point:

Substitute — What else? Who else? What rules, policies can be changed? Other process? Other procedure? Other material? Other place? Other approach?

Combine — What ideas, people, units, materials can be combined? What can be blended, mixed, integrated, packaged?

Adapt — What else is like this? What else does this suggest? Is there a parallel elsewhere? What/Whom could I copy? What different contexts could I put this in? What ideas outside my field could I incorporate?

Magnify — What can be enlarged? extended? broadened? exaggerated? multiplied? added? duplicated? made stronger? made longer? What can we carry to an extreme?

Put to other uses — What else can this be used for? Are there new ways to use this? Can this be put to use in other markets? Can this be put to use for different people?

Eliminate or minimize — Can this be made smaller? less important? What can be omitted? streamlined? reduced? condensed? divided? What's not necessary? marginal?

Rearrange/Reverse — Can we rearrange the order? the components? the people? Is there another pattern? layout? timeframe? What can be reversed? transposed? What are the opposites? What's the negative of this? What if we consider this backwards?

###

Labels: Innovation

<< Home