Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

When to Use

• User wants to build, create, or add something new
• User says "let's build", "I want to add", "what if we..."
• Design discussion or feature exploration is happening
• During /shipyard:init for requirements gathering
• Before any creative work: creating features, building components, adding functionality, modifying behavior

Overview

Help turn ideas into fully formed designs through natural collaborative dialogue. Understand the project context, ask questions one at a time, then present the design in small sections (200-300 words) with validation after each.

Shipyard integration: This skill is the foundation of /shipyard:init. Brainstorming drives the requirements gathering phase before any plan is written.

The Process

Phase 1: 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

Multiple-choice question template:

I see a few ways to handle [topic]:

A) [Option] -- [one-sentence trade-off]
B) [Option] -- [one-sentence trade-off]
C) [Option] -- [one-sentence trade-off]

I'd lean toward (A) because [reason]. Which feels right for your case?

Phase 2: 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

Phase 3: 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 shipyard:git-workflow to create isolated workspace
• Use shipyard:shipyard-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 - Cut any feature not essential to the core use case. If the user says "and maybe also...", push back: "Let's ship the core first and add that later if needed."
• 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
• No gold plating - If the user describes a simple need, do not propose an enterprise architecture. Match the solution to the problem size.

Examples

Good: Collaborative single-question flow

User: I want to add notifications to my app.

Agent: Before we dive in, let me check what's here...
[reads project files]
Your app is a Flask REST API with a PostgreSQL database and no existing
notification system. What kind of notifications are we talking about?

A) Email notifications for important events (password reset, account changes)
B) In-app notifications (a notification bell in the UI)
C) Push notifications to mobile devices
D) Some combination -- tell me more

I'd lean toward (A) if this is your first pass, since it's the simplest
to add. Which direction?

Bad: Dumping multiple questions at once

User: I want to add notifications to my app.

Agent: Great idea! What kind of notifications? Email, push, or in-app?
What events should trigger them? Do you need real-time delivery? What
about notification preferences? Should users be able to mute? What
about digest mode? Have you considered a message queue? What scale
are we talking about?