brainstorming

To turn a feature idea into an approved design specification, you need a structured brainstorming process that explores project context, asks targeted clarifying questions, and iteratively refines the design with user approval before generating final documentation.

The best way to gather requirements for new functionality is through a question-driven dialogue that clarifies user intent and success criteria one question at a time, ensuring all specifications are explicitly defined and approved before development starts.

Iterative design approval works by breaking down the proposed design into manageable sections, presenting 2-3 distinct approaches with trade-offs, and seeking explicit user approval at each stage to ensure alignment with the project context.

Yes, you can analyze existing files, documentation, and recent commits to understand the project context. This exploratory step ensures that newly proposed design approaches align with the current codebase and established architecture.

To start the ideation process for a new software component, you need a raw feature idea and an existing project environment. The process will explore your project context and ask targeted questions to define the design approaches and specifications.

You should define design approaches with trade-offs before writing implementation plans to prevent wasted development effort. This ensures the final specification is fully formed and user-approved, allowing subsequent implementation planning to proceed without ambiguity.