Brainstorming Ideas

Quick Start

Diverge (20 min) - Generate 20+ ideas with no judgment
Explore (10 min) - Combine, connect, flesh out themes
Converge (15 min) - Evaluate against criteria, prioritize
Select - Pick top 3 with clear rationale
Document - Capture all ideas and decisions for future reference

Features

Feature	Description	Guide
Divergent Phase	Generate many options	Quantity over quality, no judgment
SCAMPER	Systematic modification	Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to use, Eliminate, Reverse
Mind Mapping	Visual connections	Central topic with branching ideas
Reverse Brainstorm	Learn from failure	"How to guarantee failure?" -> prevention
Role Storming	Different perspectives	Junior dev, security expert, user personas
Starbursting	Question-based	Who, What, When, Where, Why, How

Common Patterns

# Divergent Phase Rules
1. Quantity over quality - aim for 20+ ideas
2. No judgment - all ideas valid
3. Wild ideas welcome - sparks creativity
4. Build on others - "Yes, and..."
5. Time-box - prevent over-analysis

# SCAMPER Framework
S - SUBSTITUTE: Different tech stack? Team structure?
C - COMBINE: Merge features? Hybrid approaches?
A - ADAPT: From other industries? Products?
M - MODIFY/MAGNIFY: Bigger/smaller? Faster/slower?
P - PUT TO OTHER USES: Different users? Problems?
E - ELIMINATE: Remove features? Simplify?
R - REVERSE: Opposite approach? Different order?

# Reverse Brainstorm
Goal: Build reliable API
Reversed: How to make MOST unreliable API?

| Failure Idea | Prevention Strategy |
|--------------|---------------------|
| No error handling | Comprehensive try/catch |
| Single point of failure | Redundancy, load balancing |
| No monitoring | Prometheus + Grafana |
| Deploy on Fridays | Change freeze policies |

# Prioritization Matrix
| Idea | Impact | Effort | Score | Priority |
|------|--------|--------|-------|----------|
| A | High | Low | 9 | 1st |
| B | High | High | 6 | 3rd |
| C | Medium | Low | 7 | 2nd |

# Role Storming Perspectives
TECHNICAL:
- Junior Dev: "What's confusing?"
- Security Expert: "What vulnerabilities?"
- DevOps: "How to deploy/monitor?"

USER:
- Power User: "Advanced features needed?"
- New User: "Is this intuitive?"
- Frustrated User: "What's annoying?"

EXTERNAL:
- Competitor: "How would we copy this?"
- Hacker: "How to exploit this?"

Best Practices

Do	Avoid
Set clear time limits per phase	Judging ideas during divergent phase
Capture ALL ideas, even "bad" ones	Letting dominant voices control
Build on others' ideas with "Yes, and..."	Skipping exploration phase
Use visual tools (mind maps, boards)	Converging too early
Vote anonymously to avoid groupthink	Brainstorming without clear goal
Follow up with action items	Abandoning ideas without evaluation
Mix individual and group ideation	Sessions over 60 minutes
Create safety for wild ideas	Forgetting to capture reasoning

Related Skills

thinking-sequentially - Structure exploration
writing-plans - Turn ideas into plans
solving-problems - Generate solution hypotheses
dispatching-parallel-agents - Parallel idea exploration

brainstorming-ideas

Brainstorming Ideas

Quick Start

Features

Common Patterns

Best Practices

Related Skills