brainstorming

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# Brainstorming

This skill provides detailed process knowledge for effective brainstorming sessions that clarify **WHAT** to build before diving into **HOW** to build it.

## When to Use This Skill

Brainstorming is valuable when:
- Requirements are unclear or ambiguous
- Multiple approaches could solve the problem
- Trade-offs need to be explored with the user
- The user hasn't fully articulated what they want
- The feature scope needs refinement

Brainstorming can be skipped when:
- Requirements are explicit and detailed
- The user knows exactly what they want
- The task is a straightforward bug fix or well-defined change

## Core Process

### Phase 0: Assess Requirement Clarity

Before diving into questions, assess whether brainstorming is needed.

**Signals that requirements are clear:**
- User provided specific acceptance criteria
- User referenced existing patterns to follow
- User described exact behavior expected
- Scope is constrained and well-defined

**Signals that brainstorming is needed:**
- User used vague terms ("make it better", "add something like")
- Multiple reasonable interpretations exist
- Trade-offs haven't been discussed
- User seems unsure about the approach

If requirements are clear, suggest: "Your requirements seem clear. Consider proceeding directly to planning or implementation."

### Phase 1: Understand the Idea

Ask questions **one at a time** to understand the user's intent. Avoid overwhelming with multiple questions.

**Question Techniques:**

1. **Prefer multiple choice when natural options exist**
   - Good: "Should the notification be: (a) email only, (b) in-app only, or (c) both?"
   - Avoid: "How should users be notified?"

2. **Start broad, then narrow**
   - First: What is the core purpose?
   - Then: Who are the users?
   - Finally: What constraints exist?

3. **Validate assumptions explicitly**
   - "I'm assuming users will be logged in. Is that correct?"

4. **Ask about success criteria early**
   - "How will you know this feature is working well?"

**Key Topics to Explore:**

| Topic | Example Questions |
|-------|-------------------|
| Purpose | What problem does this solve? What's the motivation? |
| Users | Who uses this? What's their context? |
| Constraints | Any technical limitations? Timeline? Dependencies? |
| Success | How will you measure success? What's the happy path? |
| Edge Cases | What shouldn't happen? Any error states to consider? |
| Existing Patterns | Are there similar features in the codebase to follow? |

**Exit Condition:** Continue until the idea is clear OR user says "proceed" or "let's move on"

### Phase 2: Explore Approaches

After understanding the idea, propose 2-3 concrete approaches.

**Structure for Each Approach:**

```markdown
### Approach A: [Name]

[2-3 sentence description]

**Pros:**
- [Benefit 1]
- [Benefit 2]

**Cons:**
- [Drawback 1]
- [Drawback 2]

**Best when:** [Circumstances where this approach shines]
```

**Guidelines:**
- Lead with a recommendation and explain why
- Be honest about trade-offs
- Consider YAGNI—simpler is usually better
- Reference codebase patterns when relevant

### Phase 3: Capture the Design

Summarize key decisions in a structured format.

**Design Doc Structure:**

```markdown
---
date: YYYY-MM-DD
topic: <kebab-case-topic>
---

# <Topic Title>

## What We're Building
[Concise description—1-2 paragraphs max]

## Why This Approach
[Brief explanation of approaches considered and why this one was chosen]

From sammyjoyce/pi-compound-engineering, MIT.

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