majiayu000 Brainstorm Diverge-Converge
Table of Contents
- Purpose
- When to Use This Skill
- What is Brainstorm Diverge-Converge?
- Workflow
- Common Patterns
- Guardrails
- Quick Reference
Purpose
Apply structured divergent-convergent thinking to generate many creative options, organize them into meaningful clusters, then systematically evaluate and narrow to the strongest choices. This balances creative exploration with disciplined decision-making.
When to Use This Skill
- Generating product or feature ideas
- Exploring solution approaches for open-ended problems
- Developing research questions or hypotheses
- Creating marketing or content strategies
- Identifying strategic initiatives or opportunities
- Designing experiments or tests
- Naming products, features, or projects
- Developing interview questions or survey items
- Exploring design alternatives (UI, architecture, process)
- Prioritizing from a large possibility space
- Overcoming creative blocks
- When you need both quantity (many options) and quality (best options)
Trigger phrases: "brainstorm", "generate ideas", "explore options", "what are all the ways", "divergent thinking", "ideation", "evaluate alternatives", "narrow down choices"
What is Brainstorm Diverge-Converge?
A three-phase creative problem-solving method:
Diverge (Expand): Generate many ideas without judgment or filtering. Focus on quantity and variety. Defer evaluation.
Cluster (Organize): Group similar ideas into themes or categories. Identify patterns and connections. Create structure from chaos.
Converge (Select): Evaluate ideas against criteria. Score, rank, or prioritize. Select strongest options for action.
Quick Example:
# Problem: How to improve customer onboarding?
## Diverge (30 ideas)
- In-app video tutorials
- Interactive walkthroughs
- Email drip campaign
- Live webinar onboarding
- 1-on-1 concierge calls
- ... (25 more ideas)
## Cluster (6 themes)
1. **Self-serve content** (videos, docs, tooltips)
2. **Interactive guidance** (walkthroughs, checklists)
3. **Human touch** (calls, webinars, chat)
4. **Motivation** (gamification, progress tracking)
5. **Timing** (just-in-time help, preemptive)
6. **Social** (community, peer examples)
## Converge (Top 3)
1. Interactive walkthrough (high impact, medium effort) - 8.5/10
2. Email drip campaign (medium impact, low effort) - 8.0/10
3. Just-in-time tooltips (medium impact, low effort) - 7.5/10
Workflow
Copy this checklist and track your progress:
Brainstorm Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Gather requirements
- [ ] Step 2: Diverge (generate ideas)
- [ ] Step 3: Cluster (group themes)
- [ ] Step 4: Converge (evaluate and select)
- [ ] Step 5: Document and validate
Step 1: Gather requirements
Clarify topic/problem (what are you brainstorming?), goal (what decision will this inform?), constraints (must-haves, no-gos, boundaries), evaluation criteria (what makes an idea "good" - impact, feasibility, cost, speed, risk, alignment), target quantity (suggest 20-50 ideas), and rounds (single session or multiple rounds, default: 1).
Step 2: Diverge (generate ideas)
Generate 20-50 ideas without judgment or filtering. Suspend criticism (all ideas valid during divergence), aim for quantity and variety (different types, scales, approaches), and use creative prompts: "What if unlimited resources?", "What would competitor do?", "Simplest approach?", "Most ambitious?", "Unconventional alternatives?". Output: Numbered list of raw ideas. For simple topics → generate directly. For complex topics → Use resources/template.md for structured prompts.
Step 3: Cluster (group themes)
Organize ideas into 4-8 distinct clusters by identifying patterns, creating categories (mechanism, user/audience, timeline, effort, risk, strategic objective), naming clusters clearly, and checking coverage (distinct approaches). Fewer than 4 = not enough variety, more than 8 = too fragmented. Output: Ideas grouped under cluster labels.
Step 4: Converge (evaluate and select)
Define criteria (from step 1), score ideas on criteria (1-10 or Low/Med/High scale), rank by total/weighted score, select top 3-5 options, and document tradeoffs (why chosen, what deprioritized). Evaluation patterns: Impact/Effort matrix, weighted scoring, must-have filtering, pairwise comparison. See Common Patterns for domain-specific approaches.
Step 5: Document and validate
Create brainstorm-diverge-converge.md with: problem statement, diverge (full list), cluster (organized themes), converge (scored/ranked/selected), and next steps. Validate using resources/evaluators/rubric_brainstorm_diverge_converge.json: verify 20+ ideas with variety, distinct clusters, explicit criteria, consistent scoring, top selections clearly better, actionable next steps. Minimum standard: Score ≥ 3.5.
Common Patterns
For product/feature ideation:
- Diverge: 30-50 feature ideas
- Cluster by: User need, use case, or feature type
- Converge: Impact vs. effort scoring
- Select: Top 3-5 for roadmap
For problem-solving:
- Diverge: 20-40 solution approaches
- Cluster by: Mechanism (how it solves problem)
- Converge: Feasibility vs. effectiveness
- Select: Top 2-3 to prototype
For research questions:
- Diverge: 25-40 potential questions
- Cluster by: Research method or domain
- Converge: Novelty, tractability, impact
- Select: Top 3-5 to investigate
For strategic planning:
- Diverge: 20-30 strategic initiatives
- Cluster by: Time horizon or strategic pillar
- Converge: Strategic value vs. resource requirements
- Select: Top 5 for quarterly planning
Guardrails
Do:
- Generate at least 20 ideas in diverge phase (quantity matters)
- Suspend judgment during divergence (criticism kills creativity)
- Create distinct clusters (avoid overlap and confusion)
- Use explicit, relevant criteria for convergence (not vague "goodness")
- Score consistently across all ideas
- Document why top ideas were selected (transparency)
- Include "runner-up" ideas (for later consideration)
Don't:
- Filter ideas during divergence (defeats the purpose)
- Create clusters that are too similar or overlapping
- Use vague evaluation criteria ("better", "more appealing")
- Cherry-pick scores to favor pet ideas
- Select ideas without systematic evaluation
- Ignore constraints from requirements gathering
- Skip documentation of the full process
Quick Reference
- Template:
resources/template.md- Structured prompts and techniques for diverge-cluster-converge - Quality rubric:
resources/evaluators/rubric_brainstorm_diverge_converge.json - Output file:
brainstorm-diverge-converge.md - Typical idea count: 20-50 ideas → 4-8 clusters → 3-5 selections
- Common criteria: Impact, Feasibility, Cost, Speed, Risk, Alignment