Start Brainstorming With SCAMPER

Of all the comments made by Kuato, the tiny psychic resistance leader in sci-fi classic Total Recall, “open your mind” is perhaps the most poignant.

He needs to get inside the mind of Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character) and brainstorm a solution to a pretty big problem – how to overthrow a violent interplanetary dictatorship.

The answer was already there inside Arnie’s brain. He just needed a little help to see it, to look at things in a different way, and find a new way forward. And that is the essence of the brainstorming tool SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse).

Creative Brainstorming With SCAMPER

When you’re trying to improve a product or service, it can be hard to come up with new ideas. And it can be hard to get a brainstorming session going, even when you have lots of enthusiastic and committed people willing to help you.

We all need a little help sometimes, even if it’s just some guidance at the start of a project or a helping hand to get ideas flowing. That’s exactly what the SCAMPER brainstorming tool helps you to do, by prompting you to ask questions about your existing products or services.

For example, what components could you substitute in a product? Could you recycle the waste from a product to make something new? Yes, you'll probably come up with a few ideas that aren't viable but you'll also likely discover some new ideas and a fresh approach.

So, discover how to use SCAMPER with our new easy-to-follow infographic, and come up with ideas for improving your products and services.

How do you turn your ideas into actions? And how do you organize your ideas or information to make those actions stand out? Let us know in the comment box, below.