aj-geddes BMAD Brainstorm
Structured ideation harness for the BMAD planning lifecycle. Produces a
brainstorming-report.md of organized ideas and insights ready to feed downstream
planning skills (product-brief, PRD, architecture).
Three Intents
Ask the user which intent applies — or infer from context:
| Intent | When to use |
|---|---|
| Create | New brainstorming session on a topic or problem |
| Update | Add techniques, deepen coverage, or incorporate new constraints |
| Validate | Confirm generated insights align with project goals or decision-log |
Technique Menu
| Technique | Best For | Approx Time |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Whys | Root cause analysis | 10-15 min |
| SCAMPER | Feature ideation & creative variations | 20-30 min |
| Mind Mapping | Idea organization & hierarchy | 15-20 min |
| Reverse Brainstorming | Risk and failure-mode identification | 15-20 min |
| Six Thinking Hats | Multi-perspective evaluation | 30-45 min |
| Starbursting | Question exploration (Who/What/When/Where/Why/How) | 20-30 min |
| SWOT Analysis | Strategic positioning | 30-45 min |
| Brainwriting | Silent parallel idea generation | 15-20 min |
Technique Selection Guide
- Exploring a problem? → 5 Whys, then Starbursting
- Generating features or solutions? → SCAMPER, Mind Mapping
- Assessing risk or failure modes? → Reverse Brainstorming, Six Thinking Hats (Black Hat)
- Strategic planning or positioning? → SWOT, Six Thinking Hats (full cycle)
- Need parallel idea volume? → Brainwriting
Session Workflow
Use TodoWrite to track each step.
- Gather context — Ask: topic/problem, relevant constraints, which BMAD track is active
- Read project context — Load
bmad-output/project-context.mdandbmad-output/decision-log.mdif present - Select techniques — Choose 2-4 complementary techniques; confirm with user
- Execute sessions — Apply each technique systematically (diverge first, do not filter)
- Organize ideas — Categorize all generated ideas; label Impact (H/M/L) and Feasibility (H/M/L)
- Extract insights — Identify top 3-5 actionable insights across all techniques
- Identify risks — Capture risks surfaced during ideation
- Produce report — Fill
templates/brainstorm-session.template.md; save to output folder - Update decision-log — Record key decisions or directions confirmed during the session
- Recommend next steps — Which BMAD skill to engage next
Script Utilities
Generate SCAMPER prompts for a specific topic:
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/bmad-brainstorm/scripts/scamper-prompts.sh" "your topic"
Generate a SWOT analysis scaffold:
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/bmad-brainstorm/scripts/swot-template.sh" "your subject" > bmad-output/swot-draft.md
Output Artifacts
All artifacts go under the user-configured output folder (default bmad-output/).
| File | Description |
|---|---|
bmad-output/brainstorming-report.md |
Primary output — organized ideas + insights |
bmad-output/decision-log.md |
Append key decisions made during session |
bmad-output/swot-draft.md |
Optional SWOT scaffold (from script) |
Use templates/brainstorm-session.template.md for the report structure.
Subagent Strategy
For sessions covering multiple techniques in parallel, fan out one agent per technique.
Pattern: Fan-Out Ideation
Agents: 2-6 parallel (one per selected technique)
| Agent | Task | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Agent 1 | Apply SCAMPER to generate feature variations | bmad-output/brainstorm-scamper.md |
| Agent 2 | Build Mind Map to organize ideas hierarchically | bmad-output/brainstorm-mindmap.md |
| Agent 3 | Reverse Brainstorming — identify failure modes | bmad-output/brainstorm-risks.md |
| Agent 4 | Six Thinking Hats — multi-perspective analysis | bmad-output/brainstorm-hats.md |
| Agent 5 | Starbursting — Who/What/When/Where/Why/How | bmad-output/brainstorm-questions.md |
| Agent 6 | SWOT Analysis — strategic positioning | bmad-output/brainstorm-swot.md |
Coordination:
- Write brainstorming objective to
bmad-output/brainstorm-objective.md - Select 2-6 techniques; launch one agent per technique with context path
- Each agent generates 10-20 ideas/insights using its assigned technique
- Main context synthesizes all outputs into
bmad-output/brainstorming-report.md - Extract top 3-5 actionable insights; append decisions to
bmad-output/decision-log.md
Example subagent prompt:
Task: Apply SCAMPER technique
Context: Read bmad-output/brainstorm-objective.md for topic and constraints
Output: Write 15-20 creative variations to bmad-output/brainstorm-scamper.md
Apply each SCAMPER letter systematically. Generate 2-4 ideas per letter.
For each idea: one-sentence description, potential value, innovation level
(incremental / breakthrough). Conclude with your top 3 most promising ideas.
Do not implement anything — ideation output only.
BMAD Fidelity Notes
- This skill feeds Phase 1 (Analysis) and Phase 2 (Planning). Insights flow into the product-brief and PRD skills.
- Insights that become commitments must be logged in
bmad-output/decision-log.md. - This skill does not produce stories. It produces raw insight material that upstream skills (product-manager, system-architect) refine into epics and stories.
- Scale-adaptive tracks apply: Quick Flow sessions may use 1-2 techniques; Enterprise sessions should apply 4-6 for comprehensive coverage.
Guiding Principles
- Diverge before converging — generate volume first; filter later
- Structured over freeform — every technique has a defined process; follow it
- Document everything — capture all ideas; even "bad" ones can spark breakthroughs
- Quantify insights — numbers make insights actionable (market size, feature counts)
- Cross-pollinate — consider how other industries or domains solve the same problem
- No implementation — this skill plans; it never writes code or runs tests
Part of the BMAD Planning & Orchestrator plugin — a Claude Code harness for the BMAD Method by the BMAD Code Organization (https://github.com/bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD). Implements the spirit of
bmad-brainstorming. All methodology credit belongs to the BMAD Code Organization.