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name: brainstorming description: Collaborative idea refinement - turns rough ideas into fully-formed designs through questioning, alternative exploration, and incremental validation. Use before writing code or implementation plans.

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs and specs through natural collaborative 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 in small sections (200-300 words), checking after each section whether it looks right so far.

The Process

Phase 1: Understanding the Idea

• Check the current project state first (files, docs, recent commits)
• 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

Phase 2: 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

Phase 3: Presenting the Design

• Once you believe you understand what you're building, present the design
• Break it into sections of 200-300 words
• Ask after each section 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

After the Design

Documentation

• Write the validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md
• Use clear, concise language
• Commit the design document to git

Implementation (if continuing)

• Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"
• If yes, create a detailed implementation plan in docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-implementation.md
• Break down into small, testable tasks
• Commit the implementation plan

Key Principles

• One question at a time - Don't overwhelm with multiple questions
• Multiple choice preferred - Easier to answer than open-ended when possible
• YAGNI ruthlessly - Remove unnecessary features from all designs
• Explore alternatives - Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
• Incremental validation - Present design in sections, validate each
• Be flexible - Go back and clarify when something doesn't make sense

Design Document Template

When writing the design document, use this structure:

Copy# <Topic> Design Document

**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Status**: Draft | Approved
**Author**: Brainstorming session

---

## Overview

<1-2 sentence summary>

## Problem Statement

<What problem are we solving?>

## Goals & Non-Goals

**Goals:**
- ...

**Non-Goals:**
- ...

## Design

### Architecture

<High-level architecture>

### Components

<Key components and responsibilities>

### Data Flow

<How data moves through the system>

## Implementation Plan

<High-level steps>

## Testing Strategy

<How we'll verify correctness>

## Open Questions

<Unresolved decisions>