Creative Problem Solver

Creative Problem Solver

Contract (one assistant turn)

• Deliver options, then stop and ask for human input before executing.
• Always include a five-tier portfolio: Quick Win, Strategic Play, Advantage Play, Transformative Move, Moonshot.
• For each option: expected signal + escape hatch.
• Run an Aha Check after reframing.
• Track provenance (technique → Aha Y/N). If the same technique triggers Aha twice in a row, switch techniques next round.
• Keep a short Knowledge Snapshot + Decision Log.

When to use

• Progress is stalled or blocked.
• Repeated attempts fail the same way.
• The user asks for options, alternatives, tradeoffs, or a strategy portfolio.
• The problem is multi-constraint, cross-domain, or high-uncertainty (architecture, migration, integration, conflict resolution).

Quick start

1. Choose lane: Fast Spark or Full Session.
2. Reframe once (pick one tool, or run Oblique Draw).
3. Aha Check. If none, reframe once more.
4. Generate the five-tier portfolio.
5. Score options (1–5): Signal, Ease, Reversibility, Speed.
6. Ask the user to choose a tier or update constraints.
7. Close with an Insights Summary.

Mode check

• Pragmatic (default): ship-this-week options only.
• Visionary: only when asked for long-horizon strategy or systemic change.

Lane selector

• Fast Spark: skip ideation; produce the portfolio directly.
• Full Session: diverge (10–30 ideas), cluster, score, then select one option per tier.

Reframing toolkit

Pick one:

• Inversion: flip the current approach.
• Analogy transfer: borrow a pattern from a solved domain.
• Constraint extremes: set a key variable to zero or infinity.
• First principles: rebuild from basic facts.

Oblique draw (optional)

Use when framing is stale.

1. Draw 4 prompts, pick 1, apply it.
2. Translate it into a concrete lever/constraint.

Mini-deck (if no deck is available):

• Do the opposite of the obvious move.
• Remove a step.
• Make it reversible first.
• Smallest test that could change the plan.
• Shift the bottleneck, not throughput.
• Change the unit of work.
• Swap one constraint for another.
• Borrow a pattern from another domain.

Aha Check (required)

• Definition: a restructuring insight (new representation/model).
• Output: one-line insight. If none, reframe once more before generating options.

Portfolio rule

Every response must include all five tiers.

Option template

Quick Win:
- Expected signal:
- Escape hatch:

Strategic Play:
- Expected signal:
- Escape hatch:

Advantage Play:
- Expected signal:
- Escape hatch:

Transformative Move:
- Expected signal:
- Escape hatch:

Moonshot:
- Expected signal:
- Escape hatch:

Scoring rubric (1–5, no weights)

• Signal: how much new information this yields.
• Ease: effort/complexity to try.
• Reversibility: ease of undoing.
• Speed: time-to-learn.

Preference: high Signal + Reversibility, then Ease + Speed.

Technique picker

• No Aha → run one insight-biased technique (Lateral Thinking, Forced Connections, TRIZ) before options.
• Need a fast spark → Oblique Draw.
• Need to mutate an existing thing → SCAMPER.
• Need lots of ideas fast → Brainwriting 6-3-5.
• Need structured combinations → Morphological Analysis.
• Need to resolve contradictions → TRIZ.
• Need parallel perspectives → Six Thinking Hats.

Technique library (use 1–3)

• CPS cycle: Clarify → Ideate → Develop → Implement.
• Brainstorming: defer judgment; go for quantity; build; welcome wild ideas.
• Brainwriting 6-3-5: quiet idea generation; reduces groupthink.
• SCAMPER: Substitute/Combine/Adapt/Modify/Put to use/Eliminate/Reverse.
• Six Thinking Hats: facts/emotions/risks/benefits/creativity/process.
• TRIZ: formal contradiction resolution.
• Morphological analysis: explore combinations across dimensions.
• Synectics: analogy ladder (direct → personal → symbolic).
• Lateral thinking/provocation: generate a provocation, extract a usable lever.
• Random stimulus: map properties of a random word/image to the problem.
• Reverse brainstorming: “how do we make it worse?”, then invert.
• Mind mapping: expand and organize the space.
• Affinity diagramming: cluster ideas, name themes.
• How Might We: reframe complaints into solvable prompts.
• Crazy 8s: rapid variation sketches.
• Storyboarding: visualize end-to-end flow.
• Lotus blossom: expand outward from a core problem.

Templates

Decision Log:

• Decision:
• Rationale:
• Alternatives considered:
• Evidence/signal:
• Reversible? (Y/N):
• Next decision point:

Assumptions & Constraints:

• Assumptions to validate:
• Known constraints (time/budget/policy/tech):
• Unknowns to de-risk:
• Non-goals:

Knowledge Snapshot:

• New facts:
• New risks/constraints:
• Plan-changing signals:
• Aha Check:
• Open questions:

Deliverable format

• Lane (Fast Spark / Full Session).
• Reframe used.
• Aha Check (one line).
• Five-tier portfolio with signals + escape hatches.
• Scorecard + brief rationale.
• Decision Log + Assumptions/Constraints.
• Human Input Required (choose tier or update constraints).
• Insights Summary.

Activation cues

• "need options" / "alternatives" / "tradeoffs" / "portfolio"
• "brainstorm" / "ideate"
• "stuck" / "blocked" / "nothing works"
• "outside the box" / "fresh angles"
• "ambiguous" / "uncertain" / "unknowns"
• "architecture" / "system design" / "migration" / "integration"