synectics

name	synectics
description	Synectics Campaign — systematic use of analogy and metaphor for breakthrough associations via Gordon's 4 analogy types and excursion method.
execution	campaign
dependencies	{"sops":["analogy-chain","context-checkpoint","context-init","creative-ideation-novelty-scoring","creative-ideation-saturation-detection","direct-analogy-generation","domain-scanning","excursion-departure","fantasy-wish","force-fit","idea-synthesis","personal-identification","random-word-stimulus","springboard-launch","symbolic-compression","synectics-synthesis"],"tactics":["analogy-extraction","compressed-conflict","evaluation-filtering","excursion-orchestration"],"strategies":["direct-analogy","excursion-method","fantasy-analogy","personal-analogy","symbolic-analogy"]}

Synectics

Systematic use of analogy and metaphor for breakthrough associations via Gordon's 4 analogy types and excursion method.

Strategy Routing

Strategy	Signal Keywords
direct-analogy	analogy, parallel, similar system, nature, biomimicry, structural similarity
personal-analogy	empathy, become, identify with, first-person, feel like, embody
symbolic-analogy	oxymoron, compressed conflict, poetic image, paradox, essence
fantasy-analogy	wish, ideal, magic, ignore constraints, if only, perfect world
excursion-method	excursion, departure, unrelated domain, force-fit, full process

Manifest

Strategies

Strategy	Description
direct-analogy	Find structurally similar systems in nature/technology/society
personal-analogy	Empathic identification — become the system/component
symbolic-analogy	Compress core contradiction into poetic imagery/oxymoron
fantasy-analogy	Wish-fulfillment thinking — ignore physical laws for ideal solution
excursion-method	Full 8-stage Gordon-Prince excursion process

Tactics

Tactic	Description
analogy-extraction	Extract structural analogies from cross-domain sources (shared)
excursion-orchestration	Orchestrate departure → force-fit → springboard sequence
compressed-conflict	Generate oxymorons from contradictions and extract idea directions

SOPs

SOP	Description
direct-analogy-generation	Find direct analogies from nature/tech/society
personal-identification	First-person empathic identification with system
symbolic-compression	Compress contradiction into 2-3 word oxymoron
fantasy-wish	Unconstrained wish-fulfillment ideation
excursion-departure	Leave problem, explore unrelated domain
force-fit	Force-fit excursion discoveries back to problem
analogy-chain	Chain analogies to deeper levels (3-5 layers)
springboard-launch	Convert analogy insights into concrete solutions
synectics-synthesis	Synthesize all synectics outputs

Budget Table

Strategy	web-search	web-research	paper-overview	paper-search	paper-research
direct-analogy	25	8	25	15	5
personal-analogy	15	5	15	10	3
symbolic-analogy	15	5	15	10	3
fantasy-analogy	15	5	15	10	3
excursion-method	30	10	25	15	8

MCP Tools

Tool	Server	Purpose
brave_web_search	brave-search	General web search for analogies and examples
brave_llm_context	brave-search	Deep content extraction from web pages
apify/rag-web-browser	apify	Full page scraping for detailed content
get_paper_content	alphaxiv	Read academic paper content
discover_papers	alphaxiv	Find relevant research papers
relevanceSearch	semantic-scholar	Search academic literature
paper	semantic-scholar	Get paper details
citations	semantic-scholar	Trace citation networks

Context Management

• Each strategy tracks its own budget via State Ledger
• Strategies MUST NOT exceed allocated budget
• Campaign monitors cumulative spend across all strategies
• If a strategy exhausts budget before meeting yield, escalate to campaign level for reallocation
• Prefer paper-overview over paper-research for initial exploration (lower cost)

Available Tactics

Tactic	Role
analogy-extraction	Extract structural analogies from cross-domain sources (shared)
excursion-orchestration	Orchestrate departure → force-fit → springboard
compressed-conflict	Generate oxymorons and extract idea directions

Available SOPs

SOP	Role
direct-analogy-generation	Find direct analogies
personal-identification	Empathic identification
symbolic-compression	Oxymoron compression
fantasy-wish	Wish-fulfillment ideation
excursion-departure	Domain departure
force-fit	Force-fit back to problem
analogy-chain	Deepen analogies in layers
springboard-launch	Convert insights to solutions
synectics-synthesis	Final synthesis

Available Strategies

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

Strategy	When to use
direct-analogy	Find structurally similar systems in nature/technology/society. Map structural parallels to generate transferable solution principles.
excursion-method	Full 8-stage Gordon-Prince excursion process. Deliberate departure from the problem into unrelated domains, then force-fit discoveries back.
fantasy-analogy	Wish-fulfillment thinking — ignore physical laws for ideal solution. Use unconstrained imagination to reveal what the problem truly needs.
personal-analogy	Empathic identification — become the system/component. First-person embodiment to discover hidden constraints and opportunities.
symbolic-analogy	Compress core contradiction into poetic imagery/oxymoron. Use compressed conflicts to reveal hidden solution directions.

Available Tactics

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

Tactic	When to use
analogy-extraction	Extract transferable structural principles from source domains. Orchestrates source identification → abstraction → structural mapping → transfer validation.
compressed-conflict	Generate compressed conflicts (oxymorons) from problem contradictions and extract concrete idea directions from the symbolic tension.
evaluation-filtering	Multi-dimensional evaluation and tiered filtering of generated ideas. Orchestrates novelty assessment → feasibility check → ranking → selection.
excursion-orchestration	Orchestrate the excursion sequence — departure into unrelated domain, force-fit discoveries back to problem, launch springboard ideas.

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
analogy-chain	Chain analogies to deeper levels (3-5 layers). Each layer reveals new aspects and insights not visible at the surface.
context-checkpoint	Append research process and results to the current Phase's context file. Covers both process and results with genuine substance. Use this skill at plan-designated checkpoint points — typically after each strategy completes or at key decision nodes within a research Phase.
context-init	Create a new context file for a research Phase. Called once at Phase start to initialize the file that subsequent context-checkpoint calls will append to. Use this skill whenever a new research Phase begins and a fresh context file is needed.
creative-ideation-novelty-scoring	Score ideas on novelty dimensions — structural distance from known solutions, conceptual surprise, domain-crossing depth. Produces ranked novelty assessment.
creative-ideation-saturation-detection	Determine when additional ideation yields diminishing returns. Analyzes latest idea batch against existing corpus to judge continue/near-saturation/saturated.
direct-analogy-generation	Find direct analogies from nature/tech/society that share structural properties with the problem. Produces analogy list with structural mappings.
domain-scanning	Scan distant domains for transferable principles. Uses web-search and paper-overview to identify analogous solutions in unrelated fields.
excursion-departure	Leave the problem entirely and explore an unrelated domain. Produces excursion domain discoveries for later force-fitting.
fantasy-wish	Unconstrained wish-fulfillment ideation. Ignore all physical laws to imagine the ideal solution, then identify realization directions.
force-fit	Force-fit excursion discoveries back to the original problem. Deliberately create connections between unrelated findings and the challenge.
idea-synthesis	Synthesize diverse ideas into coherent solution concepts. Combines fragments from multiple ideation passes into structured, actionable ideas with clear mechanism descriptions.
personal-identification	First-person empathic identification with a system or component. Produces experience description and design insights from embodiment.
random-word-stimulus	Use random word/concept injection as creative stimulus. Selects random concepts and forces connection to the problem space, generating unexpected solution paths.