SCAMPER

SCAMPER is a checklist for reinventing something that already exists — a product, a process, a habit — instead of inventing from a blank page. You name one subject, then run it through seven prompts one at a time, each a specific move on what's already there: Substitute (swap out a material, step, person, or rule), Combine (merge or bundle it with something), Adapt (borrow an idea from elsewhere), Modify (magnify, shrink, or reshape a part), Put to another use (who else could use it, or where else), Eliminate (remove or simplify), and Reverse (flip, reorder, or turn it inside out). Because each letter forces a particular kind of change, you reach ideas you'd never get to by staring harder at the problem — and quantity is the point, since a weak idea under one lens often sparks a strong one under the next. Seven stacked prompt bands spell the mnemonic down the page, two ideas each, closing with the single idea worth building. Fill it in as a record, or print it blank and brainstorm by hand.

• Landscape
• 1 page
• Planning

Best for: Generating a burst of concrete ideas for improving something you already have — when a blank page leaves you stuck but a prompt gets you moving.