brainstorming

Brainstorming Design Exploration Skill

Skill Overview

Brainstorming is a design exploration skill that helps you gain a deep understanding of requirements, explore design solutions, and develop technical specifications through collaborative dialogue before beginning feature implementation, avoiding wasted effort caused by unvalidated assumptions.

Applicable Scenarios

Creating new features or components — Before writing any code, clarify functional requirements, technical constraints, and success criteria through questions

Refactoring or modifying existing systems — Analyze the current project structure, follow existing patterns, propose improvements, and reach consensus

Breaking down large project designs — When the project scope is too broad, help break the complex system into independent subprojects and complete the full design-to-implementation process for each

Core Features

Collaborative requirements clarification — Gradually clarify project goals, constraints, and acceptance criteria through a one-question-at-a-time dialogue to avoid information overload

Comparison of multiple design options — Propose 2–3 different implementation approaches, analyze their respective trade-offs, advantages, and disadvantages, and provide a recommended option with justification

Complete design-to-implementation workflow — Includes the full workflow of exploring project context, asking clarifying questions, presenting design options, writing design documentation, conducting specification reviews, and creating an implementation plan

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Brainstorming skill? What is its primary purpose?

Brainstorming is a design exploration skill that must be used before beginning any creative work, such as creating a feature, building a component, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Its primary purpose is to help you transform ideas into complete designs and specifications through natural dialogue, ensuring that requirements and design solutions are thoroughly understood and validated before implementation begins.

Why is design exploration necessary even for “simple” projects?

Even seemingly simple projects, such as a to-do list, a single-function tool, or a configuration change, are most likely to waste effort due to unexamined assumptions. Brainstorming requires you to think before designing. Even for truly simple projects, the design can be very brief—just a few sentences—but it must be presented and approved. This process applies to all projects, regardless of their perceived complexity.

What is the complete workflow of the Brainstorming skill?

Brainstorming follows a strict nine-step checklist: 1) explore the project context, 2) provide visual aids when applicable, 3) ask clarifying questions one at a time, 4) propose 2–3 options, 5) present the design in sections, 6) write the design document, 7) conduct a specification review cycle, 8) have the user review the written specifications, and 9) transition to the implementation plan. The entire process concludes by invoking the writing-plans skill to create the implementation plan, ensuring a smooth transition from design to implementation.