Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs
Overview
Collaborative design refinement through Socratic dialogue. Explore project context, ask clarifying questions one at a time, propose 2-3 approaches, present design in sections for incremental approval, then transition to planning.
Core principle: No implementation until design is approved. Every project goes through this.
When to Use
- Before ANY creative or implementation work
- New features, components, modifications
- Even "simple" projects (unexamined assumptions cause wasted work)
Process
- Explore project context - files, docs, recent commits
- Ask clarifying questions - one at a time, prefer multiple choice
- Propose 2-3 approaches - with tradeoffs and recommendation
- Present design in sections - get approval after each section
- Write design doc - save to
docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md - Transition to writing-plans - the ONLY next step
HARD GATE
Do NOT invoke any implementation, write any code, or take action until design is approved.
Key Principles
- One question at a time
- YAGNI ruthlessly
- Incremental validation
- Scale sections to complexity
Agents Used
agents/code-reviewer/- For design document review- Process agents defined in
brainstorming.js
Tool Use
Invoke via babysitter process: methodologies/superpowers/brainstorming