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
- Focus on understanding: purpose, constraints, success criteria
Exploring approaches:
- Propose 2-3 different approaches with trade-offs
- Lead with your recommended option and explain why
Presenting the design:
- Present once you believe you understand what you're building
- Break into sections of 200-300 words, validate each
- 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 superpowers-bd:using-git-worktrees to create isolated workspace
- Use superpowers-bd:writing-plans to create detailed implementation plan
Key Principles
- One question at a time; prefer multiple choice
- YAGNI ruthlessly -- remove unnecessary features
- Always propose 2-3 approaches before settling
- Present design in sections, validate each incrementally