Brainstorming

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through collaborative AI-human UML modeling and natural dialogue.

Start by understanding the current project context, then ask questions one at a time to refine the idea. Once you understand what you're building, present the design (described in UML) and get user approval.

Anti-Pattern: "This Is Too Simple To Need A Design"

Every project goes through this process. A todo list, a single-function utility, a config change — all of them. The design MUST be presented and approved.

Checklist

You MUST create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:

1. Explore project context — check files, docs, recent commits
2. Verify Astah Pro MCP version — use the tool for retrieving the MCP version to confirm that the MCP server is running v0.2.8 or later. If the version is not compatible, ask the user to update the Astah Pro MCP plugin. If this call — or any later MCP call — hangs without responding while Astah Pro itself is fine, the connection has stalled: ask your human partner to run /mcp and reconnect to plugin:superpowers-uml:astah-pro-mcp, then retry.
3. Offer the visual companion just-in-time — NOT upfront. The first time a question would genuinely be clearer shown than described, offer it then (its own message); on approval its browser tab opens for you. If no visual question ever arises, never offer it. See the Visual Companion section below.
4. Ask clarifying questions — one at a time, understand purpose/constraints/success criteria
5. Propose 2-3 approaches — with trade-offs and your recommendation
6. Present design model — read the UML modeling guide first, then create/update UML model elements and diagrams scaled to their complexity using Astah Pro MCP tools. Get user approval after UML modeling.
7. Save design model — save to docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.asta and commit
8. Spec self-review — quick inline check for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguity, scope (see below)
9. User reviews design model — ask user to review the design model in Astah Pro before proceeding
10. Transition to implementation — invoke writing-plans skill to create implementation plan

Process Flow

digraph brainstorming {
    "Explore project context" [shape=box];
    "Verify Astah Pro MCP version" [shape=box];
    "Ask clarifying questions" [shape=box];
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" [shape=box];
    "Present design model" [shape=box];
    "User approves design?" [shape=diamond];
    "Save design model" [shape=box];
    "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)" [shape=box];
    "User reviews design model?" [shape=diamond];
    "Invoke writing-plans skill" [shape=doublecircle];

    "Explore project context" -> "Verify Astah Pro MCP version";
    "Verify Astah Pro MCP version" -> "Ask clarifying questions";
    "Ask clarifying questions" -> "Propose 2-3 approaches";
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" -> "Present design model";
    "Present design model" -> "User approves design?";
    "User approves design?" -> "Present design model" [label="no, revise"];
    "User approves design?" -> "Save design model" [label="yes"];
    "Save design model" -> "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)";
    "Spec self-review\n(fix inline)" -> "User reviews design model?";
    "User reviews design model?" -> "Save design model" [label="changes requested"];
    "User reviews design model?" -> "Invoke writing-plans skill" [label="approved"];
}

The terminal state is invoking writing-plans. Do NOT invoke frontend-design, mcp-builder, or any other implementation skill. The ONLY skill you invoke after brainstorming is writing-plans.

The Process

Understanding the idea:

• Check out the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
• Before asking detailed questions, assess scope: if the request describes multiple independent subsystems (e.g., "build a platform with chat, file storage, billing, and analytics"), flag this immediately. Don't spend questions refining details of a project that needs to be decomposed first.
• If the project is too large for a single spec, help the user decompose into sub-projects: what are the independent pieces, how do they relate, what order should they be built? Then brainstorm the first sub-project through the normal design flow. Each sub-project gets its own spec → plan → implementation cycle.
• For appropriately-scoped projects, 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
• YAGNI ruthlessly - remove unnecessary features from every approach and design

Presenting the design:

• Once you believe you understand what you're building, read the UML modeling guide and UML-code mapping guide before creating and updating any UML model elements or diagrams: skills/brainstorming/uml-modeling-guide.md skills/brainstorming/uml-code-mapping-guide.md
• Present the design (described in UML)
• Add notes to the relevant diagram(s) for any non-functional requirements that should be reviewed by the user, and document them there. If it is unclear which diagram is relevant, add the notes to the class diagram and document them there.
• Ask after each UML diagram whether it looks right so far
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing
• Be ready to go back and clarify if something doesn't make sense

Design for isolation and clarity:

• Break the system into smaller units that each have one clear purpose, communicate through well-defined interfaces, and can be understood and tested independently
• For each unit, you should be able to answer: what does it do, how do you use it, and what does it depend on?
• Can someone understand what a unit does without reading its internals? Can you change the internals without breaking consumers? If not, the boundaries need work.
• Smaller, well-bounded units are also easier for you to work with - you reason better about code you can hold in context at once, and your edits are more reliable when files are focused. When a file grows large, that's often a signal that it's doing too much.

Working in existing codebases:

• Explore the current structure before proposing changes. Follow existing patterns.
• Where existing code has problems that affect the work (e.g., a file that's grown too large, unclear boundaries, tangled responsibilities), include targeted improvements as part of the design - the way a good developer improves code they're working in.
• Don't propose unrelated refactoring. Stay focused on what serves the current goal.

After the Design

Documentation:

• Save the validated design model to docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.asta
  • (User preferences for spec location override this default)
• Commit the Astah Pro project file (.asta) to git

Spec Self-Review: After describing the design model, look at it with fresh eyes:

1. Placeholder scan: Any "TBD", "TODO", incomplete sections, or vague requirements? Fix them.
2. Internal consistency: Do any sections contradict each other? Does the architecture match the feature descriptions?
3. Scope check: Is this focused enough for a single implementation plan, or does it need decomposition?
4. Ambiguity check: Could any requirement be interpreted two different ways? If so, pick one and make it explicit.

Fix any issues inline. No need to re-review — just fix and move on.

User Review Gate: After the spec review loop passes, ask the user to review the design model in Astah Pro before proceeding:

"Spec described in UML and committed to <path>. Please review it and let me know if you want to make any changes before we start writing out the implementation plan."

Wait for the user's response. If they request changes, make them and re-run the spec review loop. Only proceed once the user approves.

Implementation:

• Invoke the writing-plans skill to create a detailed implementation plan
• Do NOT invoke any other skill. writing-plans is the next step.

Visual Companion

A browser-based companion for showing mockups and visual options during brainstorming. Available as a tool — not a mode. Accepting the companion means it's available for questions that benefit from visual treatment; it does NOT mean every question goes through the browser.

Offering the companion (just-in-time): Do NOT offer it upfront. Wait until a question would genuinely be clearer shown than told — a real mockup / layout question, not merely a UI topic. The first time that happens, offer it then, as its own message:

"This next part might be easier if I show you — I can put together mockups and comparisons in a browser tab as we go. It's still new and can be token-intensive. Want me to? I'll open it for you."

This offer MUST be its own message. Only the offer — no clarifying question, summary, or other content. Wait for the user's response. If they accept, start the server with --open so their browser opens to the first screen automatically. If they decline, continue text-only and don't offer again unless they raise it.

Per-question decision: Even after the user accepts, decide FOR EACH QUESTION whether to use the browser or the terminal. The test: would the user understand this better by seeing it than reading it?

• Use the browser for content that IS visual — mockups, wireframes, layout comparisons, side-by-side visual UI designs
• Use the terminal for content that is text — requirements questions, conceptual choices, tradeoff lists, A/B/C/D text options, scope decisions

A question about a UI topic is not automatically a visual question. "What does personality mean in this context?" is a conceptual question — use the terminal. "Which wizard layout works better?" is a visual question — use the browser.

If they agree to the companion, read the detailed guide before proceeding: skills/brainstorming/visual-companion.md