design-thinking

name	design-thinking
description	Entry point for the 5-phase design thinking process. Assesses current state and routes to the appropriate phase skill. Each phase runs in an isolated agent session and produces a concrete artifact. Phases: understand → define → ideate → prototype → test. Invoke when starting any non-trivial problem or creative task.

Design Thinking — Entry Point

Using design-thinking to orient the current problem and route to the correct phase.

The 5 Phases

Phase	Skill	Input	Output
1. Understand	/understand	Problem description, any available context	docs/dt/context-brief.md
2. Define	/define	context-brief.md	docs/dt/spec.md
3. Ideate	/ideate	spec.md	docs/dt/plan.md
4. Prototype	/prototype	plan.md + spec.md	Working artifact (code, doc, etc.)
5. Test	/test	spec.md + implementation	docs/dt/audit.md

Artifact Directory

• For repos: docs/dt/ relative to the repo working directory.
• For vault projects: vault/Efforts/Projects/<name>/dt/.

Context Isolation Principle

Each phase runs in a new agent session. Only the previous phase's artifact travels forward. This prevents context bleed — the Understand agent does not carry Prototype details, and the Test agent does not carry the Understand agent's raw notes.

The artifact file is the handoff token. When starting a phase, read the artifact from the prior phase before doing anything else.

Entry Procedure

Check docs/dt/ to determine the starting phase:

1. No dt/ directory, or empty — start at Understand.
2. context-brief.md exists, no spec.md — start at Define.
3. spec.md exists, no plan.md — start at Ideate.
4. plan.md exists, implementation incomplete — start at Prototype.
5. Implementation complete, no audit.md — start at Test.
6. audit.md exists — cycle is complete; review and decide on next action (release, new cycle, or /design-doc).

Non-Linear Navigation

The process is iterative. Legitimate back-transitions:

• Define reveals problem was not understood → back to Understand.
• Ideate reveals the spec has fundamental gaps → back to Define.
• Prototype reveals a fundamental design issue → back to Ideate (or Define if the spec was wrong).
• Test reveals the implementation is fundamentally broken → back to Prototype.
• Test reveals the spec was wrong → back to Define.

Do not back-transition without updating the relevant artifact with what changed and why.

Commit Convention

docs(dt): complete <phase> phase — <brief description>

Example: docs(dt): complete understand phase — mapped auth service problem space

Note on Variants

This is the generic version of the design thinking process. Domain-specific variants (code, writing, creative) are a second iteration and are not included here. The generic process applies to all problem types.

---

Proceed: check docs/dt/ for existing artifacts and invoke the appropriate phase skill.