Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.

Start by understanding the current project context, then ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're building, present the design and get user approval.

Announce: "Design HARD-GATE: I will not write code or scaffold files until you approve this design."

An implementation action is: writing any file that will be part of the product (src/, lib/, app/), running npm init/create-*, generating scaffolding.

Anti-Pattern: "This Is Too Simple To Need A Design"

Every project goes through this process. A todo list, a single-function utility, a config change — all of them. "Simple" projects are where unexamined assumptions cause the most wasted work. The design can be short (a few sentences for truly simple projects), but you MUST present it and get approval.

Greenfield Projects

If the project has no existing files: skip the "Explore project context" step, start directly with clarifying questions, and create the docs/ directory as the first implementation action after approval.

Checklist

You MUST create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:

1. Explore project context — check files, docs, recent commits
2. Ensure Planning Mode — prompt user to switch to Planning Mode if not already active
3. Ask clarifying questions — one at a time, understand purpose/constraints/success criteria
4. Propose 2-3 approaches — with trade-offs and your recommendation
5. Present design — in sections scaled to their complexity, get user approval after each section
6. Write design doc — save to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md and commit
7. Transition to implementation — load writing-plans skill to create implementation plan

Process Flow

digraph brainstorming {
    "Explore project context" [shape=box];
    "Ask clarifying questions" [shape=box];
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" [shape=box];
    "Present design sections" [shape=box];
    "User approves design?" [shape=diamond];
    "Incorporate modifications, re-present changed section" [shape=box];
    "Write design doc" [shape=box];
    "Load writing-plans skill" [shape=doublecircle];

    "Explore project context" -> "Ask clarifying questions";
    "Ask clarifying questions" -> "Propose 2-3 approaches";
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" -> "Present design sections";
    "Present design sections" -> "User approves design?";
    "User approves design?" -> "Present design sections" [label="no, revise"];
    "User approves design?" -> "Incorporate modifications, re-present changed section" [label="approved with modifications"];
    "Incorporate modifications, re-present changed section" -> "Write design doc";
    "User approves design?" -> "Write design doc" [label="yes"];
    "Write design doc" -> "Load writing-plans skill";
}

The terminal state is loading writing-plans. Do NOT load frontend-design, mcp-builder, or any other implementation skill. The ONLY skill you load after brainstorming is writing-plans.

The Process

Understanding the idea:

• Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
• Ask questions one at a time to refine the idea
• Prefer multiple choice questions when possible, but open-ended is fine too
• Only one question per message - if a topic needs more exploration, break it into multiple questions
• Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria

Termination criterion for clarifying questions: Ask clarifying questions until: (a) you can restate the goal in one sentence, (b) you know the top constraint, (c) you understand the success criteria. Stop at 3-5 questions unless complexity demands more.

Exploring approaches:

• Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
• Present options conversationally with your recommendation and reasoning
• Lead with your recommended option and explain why

Presenting the design:

• Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
• Scale each section to its complexity: a few sentences if straightforward, up to 200-300 words if nuanced
• Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
• Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense

Handling partial approval:

• If the user approves with modifications: incorporate the modifications, re-present the changed section only, then proceed
• Do not re-present unchanged sections

After the Design

Documentation:

• Write the validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md
• Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available
• Commit the design document to git

Implementation:

• Load the writing-plans skill to create a detailed implementation plan
• Do NOT load any other skill. writing-plans is the next step.

Key Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
• Multiple choice preferred - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
• YAGNI ruthlessly - Remove unnecessary features from all designs
• Explore alternatives - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
• Incremental validation - Present design, get approval before moving on
• Be flexible - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense