The Creativity SCAMPER Tool ...

To create a new product, apply SCAMPER to an old one ...

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify, minimize, magnify
• Put to another use
• Eliminate, elaborate
• Rearrange, reverse

[Thank you, Bob Eberle]

David Baltimore Rule of Thumb

Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables ... the organism will do as it damn well pleases.

Jim Jindrick Rule of Thumb

The internal combustion engine is a hard act to follow!

Thad Matta Rule of Thumb

If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his (butt) all the time.

Loic Le Meur Rule of Thumb

Don't spend time on market research ... instead, launch test versions as early as possible, then keep improving the product in the open.

Tara Hunt Rule of Thumb

Designing your product for monetization first and people second will leave you with neither.

Lazarus Long Rule of Thumb

Elephant: a mouse built to government specifications.

Franklin P. Jones Rule of Thumb

You are what you eat!

Fred R. Barnard Rule of Thumb

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Kathy Hatch Rule of Thumb

Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.

Steve Jobs Rule of Thumb

You can't ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them ... by the time you get it built, they'll want something else!

Brian Gottschall Rule of Thumb

A compact-florescent light (CFL) produces 3 to 4 times as much light per watt as an incandescent ... most CFL packaging will tell you what the conversion is, for instance, 13 Watt CFL = 60 Watt incandescent.

Jim's Corollary: "Green" isn't just about how we produce energy (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.), it's about what we do with the energy once we have it ... use less to do more!

MakesMeThink Rule of Thumb

You don't have to be a professional to build a successful product ... amateurs started Google and Apple, professionals built the Titanic.

Ethan Becker Rule of Thumb

Dessert menus suffer from a lack of fruit desserts, and a good strawberry Bavarian.

Jennifer Bevilacqua Rule of Thumb

If a food product label has unpronounceable ingredients or if an ingredient looks like it would be on your shampoo bottle, avoid it.

Bill Reinert Rule of Thumb

To produce an electric vehicle that’s truly intended for a mass market, a replacement for your current gasoline car, will require a battery chemistry that isn’t currently available.

Laurie Williams Rule of Thumb

Figure 100 square feet per dog, and the entire dog park area should be secured by a 6 foot fence with a double-gated entry way.

John Colenback Rule of Thumb

To calculate what TV screen size you need, estimate your main viewing distance to the screen and then divide by 2 to get the optimal diagonal width of your screen for viewing ... for example, if you are sitting 8 feet away from your screen, you want a screen with a diagonal width of about 4 feet (or 48 inches – round that up to a 50” display).

William Smith Jr. Rule of Thumb

In determining the right size chess board square, take the diameter of the king base, and add ¼” to it.

George Colony Rule of Thumb

The customer is a rear-view mirror, not a guide to the future.