How does this skill handle technical trade-offs?

It explicitly identifies 2-3 different approaches, listing the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision based on your specific constraints.

What does the skill produce at the end of a session?

It generates a standardized design document in Markdown format, saved to your repository, which serves as the source of truth for the Research and Planning phases.

What is the 'YAGNI' principle mentioned in the skill?

'You Aren't Gonna Need It' is a philosophy used by the skill to strip away unnecessary features and focus on the minimum viable solution to reduce complexity.

When should I use the Brainstorming skill vs. the Planning skill?

Use Brainstorming when requirements are unclear or multiple approaches exist. Use Planning once a design is finalized and you need to break it down into implementation steps.

What is the primary benefit of the Brainstorming skill?

It prevents 'building the wrong thing' by forcing a structured exploration of needs, constraints, and alternative approaches before any code is written.

Brainstorming & Collaborative Design

Name: Brainstorming & Collaborative Design
Author: bostonaholic

bybostonaholic

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Productivity & Workflow

Facilitates structured exploration and design refinement through progressive questioning to ensure software requirements are well-defined before implementation.

About

The Brainstorming skill is a specialized component of the Research-Plan-Implement (RPI) framework designed to prevent wasted development effort by bridging the gap between vague ideas and technical execution. It guides users through a rigorous three-phase process—understanding the core problem, exploring multiple architectural approaches, and documenting the final design—while ruthlessly applying YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It) principles. By surfacing constraints and evaluating trade-offs early, it ensures that developers build the right solution the first time, making it an essential tool for projects with high ambiguity or complex requirements.

Key Features

Structured three-phase exploration (Understanding, Exploring, Documentation)
2 GitHub stars
Multi-approach evaluation with pros, cons, and recommendations
Automated design document generation in Markdown format
YAGNI-driven feature prioritization to prevent scope creep
Assumption surfacing and trade-off analysis questioning

Use Cases

Defining requirements for a new feature when the initial concept is vague
Evaluating multiple architectural approaches for a complex technical problem
Collaborating on system workflows before committing to a research or planning phase

About

Key Features

Structured three-phase exploration (Understanding, Exploring, Documentation)
2 GitHub stars
Multi-approach evaluation with pros, cons, and recommendations
Automated design document generation in Markdown format
YAGNI-driven feature prioritization to prevent scope creep
Assumption surfacing and trade-off analysis questioning

Use Cases

Defining requirements for a new feature when the initial concept is vague
Evaluating multiple architectural approaches for a complex technical problem
Collaborating on system workflows before committing to a research or planning phase