The SCAMPER Technique
For successful Product Managers innovation is key to staying relevant and creating solutions that keep your products ahead of the competition. However, constantly delivering innovative products and services is easier said than done. Teams often find themselves stuck rehashing the same old ideas and struggling to break out of their creative ruts. This is where the SCAMPER technique comes in handy as a structured approach to spur creative thinking and come up with novel solutions.
As discussed in a previous post where the SCAMPER technique was introducted as one of the 17 Brainstorming and Ideation Methods, SCAMPER is an acronym that represents seven different tactics you can use to enhance existing products:
S – Substitute
C – Combine
A – Adapt
M – Modify
P – Put to another use
E – Eliminate
R – Reverse
By using the SCAMPER technique as a prompting tool during ideation sessions, you can unlock fresh perspectives and shake up habitual thought patterns. It pushes you to rethink the status quo and how things currently work. This gives you license to inject creativity through substitution, combination, adaptation, etc.
In this post, we’ll explore a real-world example of using the SCAMPER technique to generate innovative ideas for enhancing products.
Equipped with this simple but powerful framework, you’ll be ready to SCAMPER your way to creative solutions and inject innovation into your offerings. Time to break free from stale thinking and implement big ideas!
The SCAMPER Technique in Practice
Let’s take a look at how the SCAMPER technique can be applied to the following product ideation scenario…
Scenario: Enhancing a Fitness Tracking App
Imagine you’re a product manager for a fitness tracking app, and you want to use the SCAMPER technique to generate new ideas for enhancing the app’s features and user experience.
Substitute
Consider substituting elements of the app with alternatives to improve its functionality or user engagement:
- Substitute the ‘Step Count’ Metric: Instead of just counting steps, substitute it with a more holistic metric that also takes into account intensity, duration, and variety of physical activities. This could provide users with a more comprehensive view of their fitness.
Combine
Think about combining different features, concepts, or elements to create something unique and valuable, for example:
- Combine Social and Challenges: Combine the social networking aspect of the app with fitness challenges. Users can form teams and compete in challenges to increase motivation and engagement.
Adapt
Adapt ideas or features from other products or industries to fit the fitness tracking app, for example:
- Adapt Gamification Elements: Borrow elements from mobile games, such as rewards, levels, and achievements, to make tracking fitness goals more engaging and fun.
Modify
Modify existing features or components to improve user experience:
- Modify Notifications: Instead of generic notifications, allow users to customize notifications based on their goals. For example, a user training for a marathon might receive specific training reminders.
Put to Another Use
Think about using the app’s features in a different context or for a different purpose, for example:
- Fitness Challenges for Corporate Wellness Programs: Position the app’s challenge feature as a solution for corporate wellness programs, encouraging friendly competition among employees to improve overall health.
Eliminate
Consider removing or simplifying elements that may not be adding significant value:
- Eliminate Complex Menus: Streamline the app’s navigation by eliminating redundant menus and focusing on the most essential features.
Reverse
Think about reversing assumptions or processes to create novel solutions:
- Reverse Progress Tracking: Instead of users tracking their own progress, introduce a feature where the app predicts future achievements based on users’ current activities and trends.
Conclusion
By applying the SCAMPER technique, teams can explore a wide range of creative ideas to enhance its features, improve user engagement, and stay ahead of the competition. This technique prompts participants to view their product from different angles and generate innovative solutions that might not have been obvious initially.
