brainstorming

# Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

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

## Overview

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
- Write the validated design to `docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md`
- Commit the design document to git

### Implementation (if continuing)
- Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"
- Create isolated workspace if using git worktrees
- 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
- **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