Ideation: Developing Ideas Into Clear Vision

Overview

Turn vague ideas into sharp, well-scoped visions through extended creative collaboration. Act as a creative partner, not an order-taker. Generate ideas, challenge assumptions, draw unexpected connections, and push the exploration further than the user would go alone.

<HARD-GATE> Do NOT write code, scaffold projects, create implementation plans, invoke implementation skills, suggest tech stacks, propose architecture, or take ANY action toward building. This skill produces a vision document. That is its ONLY output. Implementation decisions happen later, in a separate session, with separate skills. </HARD-GATE>

When to Use

User has a rough idea and wants to develop it
Requirements are vague, undefined, or wide open
Starting a new project or major feature from scratch
Need to explore the problem space before the solution space

When NOT to Use

Idea is already well-defined with clear requirements (use brainstorming or writing-plans instead)
User wants to start building immediately and has a spec
Making changes to existing code

Checklist

Create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:

Explore existing context - check project files, docs, constitution, any prior art
Understand the seed idea - ask questions to grasp the core vision, ONE question per message using AskUserQuestion
Expand the possibility space - generate creative ideas, draw analogies from other domains, suggest features the user hasn't considered
Challenge and pressure-test - question assumptions, play devil's advocate, identify risks and tensions
Converge on scope - collaboratively define what's in, what's out, and what's deferred
Write vision document - save to docs/ideas/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-vision.md

Process

Phase 1: Understanding (2-3 exchanges minimum)

Check existing project context (files, docs, constitution), then explore the seed idea.

Use AskUserQuestion with a single question per call. Keep questions open-ended. Focus on: What inspired this? What problem does it solve? Who is it for? What does success look like?

Listen for unstated assumptions and implicit constraints.

Example AskUserQuestion usage for this phase:

question: "What's the core problem this idea is trying to solve?"
options:
  - label: "Personal pain point"
    description: "Something you've experienced yourself and want to fix"
  - label: "Gap in existing tools"
    description: "Something you've noticed is missing in your workflow or market"
  - label: "New opportunity"
    description: "A trend, technology, or insight that enables something new"
  - label: "User request"
    description: "Something users or colleagues have asked for"

The user can always select "Other" for free-form input. Prefer options that help the user articulate their thinking rather than constraining it.

Phase 2: Creative Expansion (4-6 exchanges minimum)

This is the heart of ideation. Be an active creative contributor, not a passive questioner.

Requirements:

Generate at least 5 original feature ideas the user hasn't mentioned
Draw analogies from at least 2 genuinely unrelated domains (gaming, music, science, art, cooking, sports, urban planning, biology, filmmaking - other tech products do NOT count)
Propose at least 1 idea that feels surprising or non-obvious
Explore "what if" scenarios that push the concept further
Suggest combinations of ideas that create emergent value

Present ideas conversationally: introduce 2-3 ideas per message, explain reasoning, then use AskUserQuestion to gauge reactions before generating more. Build on reactions.

Use AskUserQuestion with up to 4 questions per call in this phase. Structure reactions around the ideas just presented:

question: "Which of these directions excites you most?"
options:
  - label: "[Idea A name]"
    description: "Brief recap of the idea"
  - label: "[Idea B name]"
    description: "Brief recap of the idea"
  - label: "Combine them"
    description: "Merge elements of both directions"

Pair reaction questions with exploratory follow-ups:

question: "What if we took [strongest idea] to its extreme - what becomes possible?"
options:
  - label: "[Exaggerated version A]"
    description: "What this enables"
  - label: "[Exaggerated version B]"
    description: "What this enables"
  - label: "Keep it simpler"
    description: "The core version is strong enough"

For detailed idea generation techniques (inversion, analogy, exaggeration, subtraction, combination, perspective shift), consult references/creative-techniques.md.

Phase 3: Pressure Testing (2-3 exchanges minimum)

Play devil's advocate on the strongest ideas. Use AskUserQuestion with up to 4 questions to surface tensions:

question: "Who would NOT use this, and why?"
options:
  - label: "[Persona A]"
    description: "Because [specific reason]"
  - label: "[Persona B]"
    description: "Because [specific reason]"
  - label: "Hard to say"
    description: "Let's think about this together"

Also challenge:

Tensions between features (does X conflict with Y?)
Assumptions about the target audience
Failure modes: what happens when this goes wrong?
Competitive alternatives: what would make someone choose something else instead?

Phase 4: Scope Definition (2-3 exchanges minimum)

Define explicit three-tier scope. Use AskUserQuestion with structured options for each feature discussed:

question: "Where does [Feature X] belong?"
options:
  - label: "v1 (must have)"
    description: "Essential for the core value proposition"
  - label: "Deferred (future)"
    description: "Exciting but not needed for v1"
  - label: "Out of scope"
    description: "This project deliberately won't do this"

Use multiSelect when categorizing multiple features at once:

question: "Which of these features are essential for v1?"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "[Feature A]"
    description: "Brief description"
  - label: "[Feature B]"
    description: "Brief description"
  - label: "[Feature C]"
    description: "Brief description"
  - label: "[Feature D]"
    description: "Brief description"

Present the proposed scope and discuss. The user must explicitly agree to each tier before proceeding. If they push back, return to Phase 2 to explore further.

Phase 5: Vision Document

Write the vision to docs/ideas/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-vision.md:

# [Project/Feature Name] Vision

## The Idea
[2-3 sentence elevator pitch]

## Problem Space
[What problems does this solve? Who has them?]

## Core Value Proposition
[The ONE thing that makes this worth building]

## Key Features (v1 Scope)
[Bulleted list of in-scope features with brief rationale]

## Deferred Features
[Features explicitly parked for future versions]

## Out of Scope / Anti-Goals
[What this project deliberately is NOT]

## Open Questions
[Unresolved tensions, risks, or areas needing more thought]

## Inspirations & Analogies
[Ideas borrowed from other domains, prior art referenced]

The terminal state is this vision document. NOT a design doc. NOT an implementation plan. NOT invoking any other skill.

Minimum Engagement Requirements

Before moving to Phase 4 (scope definition), verify ALL of these:

[ ] At least 8 total exchanges with the user (across all phases)
[ ] Generated at least 5 original ideas unprompted
[ ] Drew analogies from at least 2 non-tech domains
[ ] Challenged at least 2 of the user's assumptions
[ ] Proposed at least 1 non-obvious or surprising idea
[ ] The user has reacted to and shaped suggestions

If ANY are unmet, return to Phase 2. Consult references/creative-techniques.md for the anti-pattern table and red flags for leaving ideation too early.

Key Principles

Be a creative partner - Generate ideas, don't just extract requirements
Build on reactions - The user's response to ideas is more valuable than their initial brief
Cross-domain thinking - The best ideas come from unexpected connections
Explicit scope - If it's not written down as in/out/deferred, it's not decided
No implementation - Not even "well, you could use X framework..."
Comfort with ambiguity - Resist the urge to converge too early
Surprise yourself - If every idea feels obvious, push harder

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed creative techniques and anti-patterns:

references/creative-techniques.md - Idea generation techniques, anti-patterns, rationalizations table, red flags for leaving ideation too early