# Creative Problem Solver

> Lateral-thinking playbook for options and trade-offs; always deliver a five-tier strategy portfolio.

- Skill: `majiayu000/creative-problem-solver-2` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add majiayu000/creative-problem-solver-2`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/majiayu000/creative-problem-solver-2/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: majiayu000 (https://skillmd.com/u/majiayu000)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/majiayu000/creative-problem-solver-2

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# 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"