Brainstorm Skill

Procedural knowledge for facilitating structured creative ideation sessions.

When to Use

• Running /brainstorm-board [topic]

• User says "let's brainstorm", "explore options", "what are the possibilities"

• Early-stage problem exploration before research or PRD

• Generating multiple solution approaches

Brainstorming Principles

Diverge Before Converging

• Quantity first - Generate many ideas without judgment

• Build on ideas - "Yes, and..." not "No, but..."

• Wild ideas welcome - Extreme ideas often lead to practical innovations

• Defer judgment - Evaluation comes later

Tyler's Thinking Style

Reference tyler-context.md

• Tyler processes through conversation. Ask probing questions, don't solve immediately.

Process

Step 1: Frame the Problem

Ask clarifying questions:

• What's the core problem we're solving?

• Who has this problem? (Which persona?)

• What does success look like?

• What constraints exist?

Create a problem statement:

For [persona], who [situation/need], the [feature/solution] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [current alternative], our solution [key differentiator].

Step 2: Generate Ideas (Diverge)

Use multiple ideation techniques:

How Might We (HMW) Reframe problem as opportunity questions:

• "How might we make [problem] easier?"

• "How might we eliminate [friction]?"

• "How might we turn [negative] into [positive]?"

Analogies

• "How does [other industry] solve this?"

• "What would [company/product] do?"

• "If this were [physical/digital/game], how would it work?"

Extremes

• "What if we had unlimited resources?"

• "What if we had to ship in 24 hours?"

• "What if users had zero training?"

• "What if AI could do anything?"

Reversal

• "What would make this problem worse?"

• "What's the opposite approach?"

Step 3: Cluster & Theme

Group ideas by:

• Approach type - Automation vs. augmentation vs. information

• User effort - High-touch vs. low-touch

• Technical complexity - Quick win vs. infrastructure investment

• Persona fit - Which ideas fit which users

Step 4: Rough Evaluation

Score each promising idea:

Criteria Questions

Impact How much does this reduce user pain?

Confidence How sure are we users want this?

Effort How hard to build/test?

Alignment Does it fit product vision?

Use simple High/Medium/Low ratings.

Step 5: Select Next Steps

Based on evaluation:

• High confidence, high impact → Move to research/validation

• Low confidence, high impact → Need more evidence first

• Quick wins → Consider for near-term roadmap

• Big bets → Document for future consideration

Output Format

Brainstorm: [Topic]

Date: YYYY-MM-DD Participants: [who was involved]

Problem Statement

[Framed problem]

Ideas Generated

Theme 1: [Name]

Theme 2: [Name]

...

Top Candidates

1. [Best Idea]

• Why promising: [reason]
• Key risk: [concern]
• Next step: [action]

2. [Second Idea]

...

Parked Ideas

Ideas worth revisiting later:

• [Idea] - [why parked]

Questions to Answer

1. [Open question needing research]
2. [Assumption to validate]

Recommended Next Steps

• [Specific action 1]
• [Specific action 2]

Save Location

pm-workspace-docs/research/brainstorms/YYYY-MM-DD-[topic].md

Anti-Patterns

🚩 Converging too early - Let ideas flow before evaluating 🚩 Solution-first - Always start with problem framing 🚩 Single idea - Push for at least 5-10 ideas before narrowing 🚩 Ignoring constraints - Note constraints but don't let them kill creativity 🚩 No next step - Always end with actionable recommendations

Integration with Other Commands

After brainstorming:

• Test assumptions → /hypothesis new [name]

• Start initiative → /new-initiative [name]

• Need user evidence → /research [name]

• Ready for definition → /pm [name]