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

Understanding the idea:

• Check out 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

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

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:

• Save the validated design as a ticket tagged plan using todos_oneshot

• Use elements-of-style:writing-clearly-and-concisely skill if available

• Commit the design document to git

Implementation (if continuing):

• Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"

• Use superpowers:using-git-worktrees to create isolated workspace

• Use superpowers:writing-plans to create detailed 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

• Only critically important questions - Don't ask what's already clear from conversation, specs, or context. This isn't a fun interview. If you have zero questions, just start.

• YAGNI ruthlessly - Remove unnecessary features from designs, unless user is intentionally building out longer-term vision

• 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