brainstorming

To validate product requirements before implementation, use a brainstorming workflow that explores project context, asks clarifying questions one at a time, and proposes 2–3 approaches with trade-offs for explicit user approval before proceeding.

An approval-gated design specification workflow presents design sections incrementally and requires user approval at each step, ensuring requirements and constraints are validated before writing a final design document to docs/plans.

You document design specifications for new features by validating requirements through an approval-gated brainstorming process, then writing the approved design details into a dated markdown file at docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md.

Yes, you can compare multiple solution approaches during product planning by generating 2–3 proposed solutions with explicit trade-offs and a recommended direction, allowing you to select the best path before creating a design document.

You should not use a brainstorming workflow for design specifications if your project requires immediate code implementation, because this process enforces a strict hard gate against implementation actions until the design document is fully approved.