/brainstorming

name: brainstorming
description: Apply when generating ideas, exploring solution space, or facilitating divergent thinking before committing to an approach.
license: MIT
version: 1.0.0
tokens_target: 1100
triggers:
  - brainstorming
  - idea generation
  - divergent thinking
loads_after: []
supersedes: []

Sub-Skill: Brainstorming

**Purpose:** Maximize the quality of the eventual solution by ensuring sufficient exploration of the solution space before converging on an approach.

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Rules

Divergence First

1. **Generate before evaluating.** Always complete a divergent generation phase before applying any evaluation criteria; premature judgment kills creative options. 2. **Produce at least three alternatives.** Always generate at least three distinct alternatives before committing to an approach. Reference: ERR-2026-028 3. **Quantity over quality early.** Prefer producing many rough ideas over polishing a single idea during the generation phase; refinement comes later. 4. **Loosen constraints deliberately.** Before generating, explicitly list the constraints you are relaxing (time, cost, technology) to open the solution space.

Structured Exploration

5. **Timebox each phase.** Always set explicit time limits for divergent and convergent phases to prevent open-ended exploration from blocking delivery. 6. **Use silent generation first.** Before group discussion, have each participant (or reasoning thread) generate ideas independently to avoid anchoring bias. 7. **Apply devil's advocate.** After generating options, explicitly argue against the leading option to surface hidden weaknesses before committing. 8. **Build on ideas, don't replace them.** Prefer extending or combining existing ideas over discarding them; hybrid solutions often outperform pure alternatives.

Convergence

9. **Define decision criteria upfront.** Before evaluating options, agree on the criteria (performance, cost, maintainability) and their relative weights. 10. **Categorize before ranking.** Group ideas by theme or approach before ranking; ranking ungrouped lists misses structural patterns. 11. **Document rejected alternatives.** Always record why alternatives were rejected so future contributors understand the decision context.

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See also

• `skills/self-extension-workflow/SKILL.md`
• `skills/error-log/SKILL.md`