Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Purpose

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative dialogue.

This skill is mandatory before creative work (new features, new components, new functionality, or behavior changes).

Workflow

1) Understand the idea (one question at a time)

• •Start by checking the current project context (relevant files, docs, and recent changes).
• •Ask exactly one question per message to refine the idea.
• •Prefer multiple-choice questions when possible; use open-ended questions only when necessary.
• •Focus on:
  • •purpose: what problem this solves and for whom
  • •constraints: performance, UX, compatibility, timeline, dependencies
  • •success criteria: what “done” looks like and how to verify it

2) Explore approaches

• •Propose 2–3 approaches with trade-offs.
• •Lead with the recommended option and explain why.
• •Apply YAGNI ruthlessly: remove non-essential features and defer nice-to-haves.

3) Present the design (incremental validation)

• •Once the goal is clear, present the design in small sections (200–300 words each).
• •After each section, ask whether it looks right so far before continuing.
• •Cover:
  • •architecture and boundaries
  • •components/modules and responsibilities
  • •data flow and interfaces
  • •error handling and observability
  • •testing strategy

After the design

Documentation

• •Write the validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md.
• •Keep it concise and clear.
• •Commit the design document to git.

Implementation (if continuing)

• •Ask: “Ready to set up for implementation?”
• •Then create a detailed implementation plan and proceed with changes.