Brainstorming Skill

Overview

This skill guides collaborative dialogue to transform ideas into detailed design specifications before implementation begins. Through Socratic questioning and iterative refinement, it ensures shared understanding and prevents costly rework.

Quick Start

1. Understand context - Examine project, ask clarifying questions
2. Explore options - Propose 2-3 approaches with trade-offs
3. Refine design - Validate section by section (200-300 words each)
4. Document - Write design to timestamped file
5. Plan - Optionally create implementation plan

When to Use

• Starting new features or projects
• Clarifying ambiguous requirements
• Evaluating architectural decisions
• Designing APIs or interfaces
• Planning complex implementations
• Before writing any significant code

The Brainstorming Process

Phase 1: Understanding

Goal: Build complete picture of the problem space.

Approach:

• Examine project context first
• Ask one question at a time
• Use multiple-choice questions when feasible
• Focus on purpose, constraints, and success metrics

Key questions:

• What problem are we solving?
• Who are the users?
• What are the constraints?
• How will success be measured?
• What already exists?

Phase 2: Exploration

Goal: Identify and evaluate solution approaches.

Approach:

• Propose 2-3 different approaches
• Present trade-offs for each
• Give reasoned recommendations
• Stay conversational, not prescriptive

Option template:

### Option A: [Name]
- Approach: [Description]
- Pros: [Benefits]
- Cons: [Drawbacks]
- Best for: [Scenarios]

Phase 3: Design Presentation

Goal: Create validated design specification.

Approach:

• Break into sections of 200-300 words
• Validate each section before proceeding
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
• Allow revisiting earlier decisions

Section checklist:

• Architecture overview
• Component breakdown
• Data flow description
• API/Interface design
• Error handling strategy
• Testing approach
• Security considerations
• Performance requirements

Key Principles

YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It)

Apply ruthlessly:

• Design only what's needed now
• Avoid speculative features
• Question every "nice to have"
• Defer complexity until required

Single Question Per Message

• Prevents overwhelming stakeholders
• Ensures each point is addressed
• Maintains conversation flow
• Allows for course correction

Incremental Validation

• Validate section by section
• Get explicit confirmation
• Allow reversals
• Build on confirmed foundations

Question Templates

Clarification

• "To clarify: [summary of understanding]. Is that correct?"
• "When you say [term], do you mean (a) [option1], (b) [option2], or (c) something else?"

Trade-off Exploration

• "We could either [A] or [B]. [A] gives us [benefit] but [drawback]. [B] gives us [benefit] but [drawback]. Which matters more for this project?"

Priority Assessment

• "Which is more important: [quality A] or [quality B]?"
• "If we had to choose between [option 1] and [option 2], which would you prefer?"

Validation

• "Here's my understanding of [section]. Does this match your expectations?"
• "Before we move on, let me confirm: [summary]"

Post-Design Actions

After validation:

1. Document

   • Write design to timestamped file
   • Include all decisions and rationale
   • Note any deferred decisions

2. Plan (Optional)

   • Use writing-plans skill for implementation
   • Break design into tasks
   • Estimate and prioritize

3. Review (Optional)

   • Share with stakeholders
   • Gather additional feedback
   • Incorporate changes

Best Practices

Do

1. Start with user needs, not solutions
2. Ask questions in order of importance
3. Summarize understanding frequently
4. Document decisions and rationale
5. Keep options open until validated
6. Use concrete examples

Don't

1. Jump to solutions before understanding
2. Ask multiple questions at once
3. Assume requirements
4. Over-design upfront
5. Skip validation steps
6. Ignore constraints

Error Handling

Situation	Action
Conflicting requirements	Surface conflict explicitly, ask for priority
Unclear response	Rephrase question, provide examples
Scope creep	Reference original goals, ask if scope changed
Analysis paralysis	Propose default, ask for objections

Metrics

Metric	Target	Description
Questions per design	10-30	Thorough but focused
Section validation rate	100%	All sections confirmed
Rework rate	<20%	Changes during implementation
Stakeholder alignment	High	Shared understanding achieved

Related Skills

• writing-plans - Create implementation plans
• sparc-workflow - Development methodology
• product-roadmap - Product planning

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Version History

• 1.0.0 (2026-01-19): Initial release adapted from obra/superpowers