brainstorm

Brainstorm Skill

When to Use

• User needs ideas, options, or creative solutions
• Evaluating multiple approaches to a problem
• Feature planning or product decisions
• User says "brainstorm", "ideas", "options", "what should I build"

The Brainstorm Loop

1. Diverge (Generate)

Generate 5-10 ideas without judgment. Use these techniques:

• First principles: What are the fundamental constraints? What's actually required?
• Analogy: How does nature/other industries solve this?
• Inversion: What would make this fail? Now avoid those things.
• Constraint removal: If [budget/time/expertise] weren't an issue, what then?
• Combinations: Merge two unrelated concepts

2. Converge (Evaluate)

Score each idea on:

• Impact (1-10): How much value if successful?
• Feasibility (1-10): Can we build it with current resources?
• Speed (1-10): How fast to MVP?
• Alignment (1-10): Does it match user goals?

3. Refine (Synthesize)

Take top 2-3 ideas and:

• Identify risks and mitigations
• Define success metrics
• Outline first steps
• Note assumptions to validate

4. Present

Format output:

## Top Recommendation: [Name]
- Impact: X/10 | Feasibility: X/10 | Speed: X/10
- Why: [one sentence]
- First step: [concrete action]
- Risk: [main risk] → Mitigation: [action]

## Runner-up: [Name]
[Same format]

## Wildcard: [Name]
[Same format — unconventional but high upside]

Pitfalls

• Don't generate only safe ideas — include 1-2 wildcards
• Don't skip the evaluation step — raw ideas without scoring are noise
• Don't present more than 3 options — decision paralysis
• Don't brainstorm forever — timebox to 5 minutes for simple topics

Verification

• [ ] At least 5 ideas generated
• [ ] Each scored on 4 dimensions
• [ ] Top 3 presented with risks and next steps
• [ ] User can make a decision from the output
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• Current beats existing: fetch and pull main first; origin main wins over clone, cache, journal and definition file; a clone that cannot fast-forward stops and reports (ops/handoffs/FABLE-HANDOFFS-2026-11-06.md section 0).