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skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: brainstorming
+description: Use when creating or developing, before writing code or implementation plans - refines rough ideas into fully-formed designs through collaborative questioning, alternative exploration, and incremental validation. Don't use during clear 'mechanical' processes
+---
+
+# 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:**
+- Write the validated design to `docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md`
+- 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 cipherpowers:using-git-worktrees to create isolated workspace
+- Use cipherpowers: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
+- **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