Brainstorming

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Overview

Turn ideas into fully formed designs through collaborative dialogue. Understand the project context, ask clarifying questions, explore approaches, and present a validated design before any implementation begins.

When to Use

Use before starting any creative or significant work: new features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying existing behavior.

The Process

1. Understand the idea:

• Check the current project state (files, docs, recent commits)
• Ask questions one at a time, preferring multiple-choice where possible
• Focus on purpose, constraints, and success criteria

2. Explore approaches:

• Propose 2–3 different approaches with trade-offs
• Lead with a recommendation and explain the reasoning

3. Present the design:

• Present in small sections (200–300 words each)
• Ask for feedback after each section
• Cover: architecture, components, data flow, error handling, testing strategy
• Present the design in the chat. Do not create files.

After the Design

• Present the final validated design in the chat
• Ask: "Ready to create an implementation plan?"
• If yes, use the writing-plans skill

Key Principles

• One question at a time — avoid overwhelming
• Multiple choice preferred — make answering easier
• YAGNI ruthlessly — challenge any feature that doesn't seem necessary
• Explore alternatives — always propose and evaluate several approaches
• Incremental validation — confirm each part of the design together
• Revisit earlier decisions — when new information changes the picture, go back

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