brainstorming

To turn a product idea into a design specification, use a guided brainstorming process that explores project context, asks clarifying questions one at a time, and proposes architectural approaches with trade-offs. This produces a user-approved design specification before implementation begins.

Preventing wasted engineering effort during feature definition requires a hard approval gate that forbids code writing or scaffolding until a structured design specification is written, self-reviewed, and explicitly approved by the user.

Creating architectural options involves reviewing current project files and commits, refining constraints through iterative clarification, and presenting 2–3 structured design approaches with clear trade-offs for user review before generating the final spec.

No, the design specification process explicitly forbids invoking implementation planning, writing code, or scaffolding until the design document is written to the prescribed path, self-reviewed, and receives final user approval.

Yes, you can generate visual mockups and diagrams using an optional browser tool companion during requirements clarification, ensuring visual questions remain separate from the text-based iterative design approval flow.

Design specifications are saved to docs/superpowers/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md. After committing the file, a self-review and user review must pass before transitioning to implementation planning via writing-plans.