Brainstorming Ideas Into Plans

Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed plans through natural collaborative dialogue.

Start by understanding what the user wants to accomplish, then ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're building, present the plan in small sections (200-300 words), checking after each section whether it looks right so far.

The Process

Understanding the idea:

• 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

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 plan:

• Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the plan
• Break it into sections of 200-300 words
• Ask after each section whether it looks right so far
• Cover relevant aspects: structure, components, steps, potential issues
• Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense

After the Plan

Documentation:

• Save the validated plan to plans/<date>-<topic>.md in user's workspace
• Ask: "Plan saved. Ready to continue with implementation?"

Implementation (if continuing):

• Use writing-plans skill to create detailed step-by-step tasks
• Use executing-plans skill to work through the tasks

Key Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
• Multiple choice preferred - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
• Keep it simple - Remove unnecessary complexity from all plans
• Explore alternatives - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
• Incremental validation - Present plan in sections, validate each
• Be flexible - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense