brainstorming

To turn a vague idea into an implementation-ready design spec, the process applies stepwise context exploration and single-question clarification to eliminate ambiguity. It presents 2-3 design approaches with trade-offs, requiring user approval at checkpoints before proceeding.

Documenting product planning trade-offs involves presenting 2-3 approaches with recommendations based on requirements, then saving the approved design specification to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md. This ensures architecture decisions are validated through incremental approval checkpoints.

Requirements discovery works by conducting stepwise context exploration of existing files and asking single clarifying questions iteratively. This converges on purpose, constraints, and success criteria for behavior changes, ensuring design proposals are grounded in the current codebase.

An existing codebase is not strictly required, but the process performs project-context exploration to review recent work and ground decisions. Having existing architecture files ensures the generated design specification aligns with current constraints and product planning requirements.

After a design specification is approved, the workflow saves the documentation to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md and executes a terminal transition. This transition invokes only the writing-plans skill to generate the subsequent implementation plan.