Key Management Development Models

49

SCAMPER

The big picture

We often do things at work in a particular way because we have always done it that way. Sometimes it is useful to step back and re-examine our standard processes and systems to see whether we can find ways to improve them.

SCAMPER was devised in the 1970s by Robert Eberle, an educational administrator from Illinois, to help children to become more creative. He built on the work of Alex Osborn (1888–1996), who was credited with the invention of brainstorming. Osborn, who worked in advertising, had compiled with his staff a list of 83 questions designed to spark creative thinking. Eberle simplified the list and created the acronym SCAMPER as an easy-to-recall mnemonic.

SCAMPER stands for:

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• M