brainstorming

name	brainstorming
description	Facilitates creative exploration of ideas, requirements, and designs. Use before implementation to refine user intent and create architectural specs.

Brainstorming & Design

When to use this skill

• When the user has a vague idea or request.
• When starting a new feature or project from scratch.
• When the user asks to "brainstorm" or "think about" a problem.

Workflow

1. Understand Context: Check current project state, files, and docs.
2. Iterative Inquiry: Ask one question at a time to clarify the idea. Prefer multiple-choice.
3. Explore Approaches: Propose 2-3 approaches with trade-offs. Recommend one.
4. Draft Design: Present the design in small sections (200-300 words) for feedback.
5. Finalize: Write the validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-topic-design.md.

Instructions

Process Rules

• One question at a time: Don't overwhelm the user.
• Multiple choice preferred: "Should we use A, B, or C?" is better than "How should we do this?".
• YAGNI ruthlessly: Remove unnecessary features.
• Incremental validation: "Does this section look right so far?"

Design Document Logic

Once the design is agreed upon, create a design doc including:

• Overview: What are we building?
• Architecture: High-level structural decisions.
• Components: breakdown of UI/logic units.
• Data Flow: How data moves.
• Error Handling: How things fail safely.
• Testing Strategy: How we verify it works.

Resources

• See original source