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 context-compressor skill if available for efficient documentation
• Commit the design document to git

Implementation (if continuing):

• Ask: "Ready to set up for implementation?"
• Use writing-plans skill 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

Iron Laws

1. NEVER propose a single solution — always surface 2–3 distinct approaches with trade-offs; a single solution forecloses exploration and anchors the user prematurely.
2. ALWAYS apply YAGNI (You Ain't Gonna Need It) — challenge every feature or complexity not directly required by the stated problem; unneeded features become permanent maintenance debt.
3. NEVER ask multiple questions in one response — one focused question at a time maintains dialogue flow; multiple questions cause partial answers and leave the most important question unanswered.
4. ALWAYS prefer multiple-choice over open-ended questions — specific options reduce cognitive load; open-ended questions require the user to invent answers rather than evaluate them.
5. NEVER proceed to implementation details until design decisions are confirmed — premature implementation locks in unvalidated assumptions; confirm the "what" and "why" before the "how".

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Why It Fails	Correct Approach
Proposing only one solution	Anchors user; forecloses better alternatives	Always offer 2-3 approaches with explicit trade-offs
Accepting first requirement as complete	First articulation rarely captures all constraints	Ask at least one clarifying question about scope
Asking 3+ questions at once	User answers the easy ones; skips the hard ones	One question per response; wait for answer
Jumping to implementation	Design flaws found late are expensive to fix	Confirm design decisions before writing code
Skipping YAGNI challenge	Unneeded features accumulate as tech debt	Explicitly challenge each feature not strictly required

Memory Protocol (MANDATORY)

Before starting: Read .claude/context/memory/learnings.md

After completing:

• New pattern -> .claude/context/memory/learnings.md
• Issue found -> .claude/context/memory/issues.md
• Decision made -> .claude/context/memory/decisions.md

ASSUME INTERRUPTION: If it's not in memory, it didn't happen.