Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs
When to use this skill
- •When the user has a vague idea or feature request.
- •Before writing any code or implementation plans.
- •When you need to understand purpose, constraints, and success criteria.
Workflow
- •Understand the Idea: Ask questions one at a time to refine the user's intent.
- •Explore Approaches: Propose 2-3 approaches with trade-offs.
- •Present Design: Present the design in small sections (200-300 words) for validation.
- •Finalize: Save the validated design to a markdown file.
Instructions
1. Understanding the Idea
- •Context First: Check current project state (files, docs) before asking.
- •One Question at a Time: Never overwhelm the user; ask one focused question per turn.
- •Multiple Choice: When possible, offer options to choose from.
- •Focus: Nail down the purpose, constraints, and success criteria.
2. Exploring Approaches
- •Propose Alternatives: Always offer 2-3 different ways to solve the problem (e.g., "Option A: Quick & Dirty", "Option B: Robust & Scalable").
- •Trade-offs: Explain pros/cons of each.
- •Recommendation: State which option you recommend and why.
3. Presenting the Design
- •Incremental: Break the design into sections of 200-300 words.
- •Validation: Stop after each section and ask: "Does this look right so far?"
- •Content: Cover architecture, components, data flow, error handling, and testing.
4. Output
- •Once agreed, write the full design to
docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md. - •Ask the user if they are ready to proceed to the Planning phase.
Resources
- •Planning Skill - For converting the design into actionable tasks.