superpowers-brainstorming

Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs

Turn ideas into designs and specs through collaborative dialogue. Understand project context first. Ask questions one at a time to refine. Once you know what you're building, present the design and get user approval.

Anti-Pattern: "This Is Too Simple To Need A Design"

Every project goes through this — todo list, single-function utility, config change, all of them. "Simple" projects breed unexamined assumptions that waste the most work. Design can be short (a few sentences for truly simple ones), but you MUST present it and get approval.

Checklist

Create a todo_write entry for each. Complete in order:

1. Explore project context — check files, docs, recent commits
2. Ask clarifying questions — one at a time; understand purpose/constraints/success criteria
3. Propose 2-3 approaches — trade-offs and your recommendation
4. Present design — sections scaled to complexity; get user approval after each section
5. Write design doc — save to docs/reasonix/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md and commit
6. Spec self-review — inline check for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguity, scope
7. User reviews written spec — ask user to review the spec file before proceeding
8. Transition to implementation — use superpowers-writing-plans skill to create the implementation plan

Process Flow

digraph superpowers-brainstorming {
    "Explore project context" [shape=box];
    "Ask clarifying questions" [shape=box];
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" [shape=box];
    "Present design sections" [shape=box];
    "User approves design?" [shape=diamond];
    "Write design doc" [shape=box];
    "Spec self-review (fix inline)" [shape=box];
    "User reviews spec?" [shape=diamond];
    "Use superpowers-writing-plans skill" [shape=doublecircle];

    "Explore project context" -> "Ask clarifying questions";
    "Ask clarifying questions" -> "Propose 2-3 approaches";
    "Propose 2-3 approaches" -> "Present design sections";
    "Present design sections" -> "User approves design?";
    "User approves design?" -> "Present design sections" [label="no, revise"];
    "User approves design?" -> "Write design doc" [label="yes"];
    "Write design doc" -> "Spec self-review (fix inline)";
    "Spec self-review (fix inline)" -> "User reviews spec?";
    "User reviews spec?" -> "Write design doc" [label="changes requested"];
    "User reviews spec?" -> "Use superpowers-writing-plans skill" [label="approved"];
}