ideas:ideation

What this skill does

# 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:

1. **Explore existing context** - check project files, docs,
   constitution, any prior art
2. **Understand the seed idea** - ask questions to grasp the core
   vision, ONE question per message using AskUserQuestion
3. **Expand the possibility space** - generate creative ideas, draw
   analogies from other domains, suggest features the user hasn't
   considered
4. **Challenge and pressure-test** - question assumptions, play
   devil's advocate, identify risks and tensions
5. **Converge on scope** - collaboratively define what's in, what's
   out, and what's deferred
6. **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`:

```markdown
# [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