brainstorming

name	brainstorming
description	Structured ideation for article topics, feature ideas, or strategic directions. Generates options with evaluation criteria, selects the strongest candidate, and produces a brief for handoff. Used by CEO (strategy), EIC (content topics), and CTO (technical solutions).

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is structured idea generation — not a free-form dump, but a disciplined process that ends with a concrete, evaluated recommendation.

When to Use

• CEO: evaluating 3-month content strategy directions
• EIC: choosing between competing article topic ideas
• CTO: selecting approach for a technical feature or component
• Any agent with a decision that has genuine alternatives

Process

Step 1: Define the Question

State the decision clearly in one sentence. Examples:

• "Which topic should the Writer tackle next quarter to maximize technical authority?"
• "What approach should Frontend Engineer use for the search component redesign?"
• "Which 3 article ideas from News Researcher's backlog have the highest traffic potential?"

A poorly defined question produces poor brainstorming. Restate if needed.

Step 2: Generate Options

Produce 3–6 distinct options. For each:

• Name: one clear label
• Core idea: 2–3 sentences on what this option is
• Strengths: what makes it compelling
• Weaknesses: honest trade-offs or risks
• Effort: Low / Medium / High (for content: writing complexity; for tech: implementation complexity)

Step 3: Evaluate Against Criteria

Score each option against the relevant criteria:

For content topics:

• Audience fit (does our technical-professional audience want this?)
• Search demand (can we realistically rank or be cited by AI search?)
• Uniqueness (not covered adequately by existing artstroy.net articles)
• Timeliness (evergreen vs. trend-dependent)
• Author expertise (does our team have first-hand experience to write authoritatively?)

For technical decisions:

• Fits Astro 5 + React 19 patterns
• Maintainable by Frontend Engineer in 6 months
• Performance impact on Core Web Vitals
• No new dependencies unless genuinely necessary

Step 4: Recommend

State the recommendation clearly:

**Recommendation:** {Option name}

**Rationale:** {2–3 sentences explaining why this option wins on the criteria that matter most}

**Risk to watch:** {the most likely failure mode and how to mitigate it}

Step 5: Hand Off

The output of brainstorming is a brief — a document that tells the receiving agent what to do next without requiring them to re-run the brainstorming process.

For EIC: a topic brief (use topic-brief skill for format) For CTO: a technical spec (use writing-plans skill to flesh out) For CEO: a strategy memo in MEMORY.md

Output Length

Scale to the decision:

• Low-stakes topic choice → 1 page
• Major architectural decision → 3 pages max

More words do not mean better brainstorming. A sharp 3-option comparison beats a rambling 10-option list.