mohamed-alaboudi/zulfiqar/brainstorming

Brainstorming

Convert an idea into a decision that is specific enough to plan and test.

Gate

Do not implement while a decision-changing product or design question remains open. End this skill with an approved design or an explicit decision to defer.

Workflow

1. Read the nearest instructions, relevant code, existing decisions, and recent

changes. Summarize the current constraint in a few sentences.

1. Separate the request into:

• desired outcome;
• non-goals;
• known constraints;
• unknowns that could change the solution.

1. If the idea contains independent products or subsystems, split it before

designing. Work on one coherent slice at a time.

1. Ask one decision-changing question at a time. Prefer a short set of

mutually exclusive answers when that helps the user choose.

1. When the problem is understood, compare two or three viable approaches.

Recommend one and identify its most important cost.

1. Present the proposed design at the level the work needs:

• responsibilities and boundaries;
• inputs, outputs, and state;
• failure behavior and recovery;
• security and accessibility constraints;
• checks that demonstrate success;
• rollout or compatibility concerns.

1. Resolve objections and record the accepted design under

docs/decisions/ unless the repository specifies another location.

1. Review the written design for placeholders, contradictions, ambiguous

terms, and requirements without acceptance checks.

1. Ask the user to approve the written design. After approval, hand the result

to writing-plans.

Visual questions

Offer a mockup or diagram only when spatial layout, hierarchy, or a state transition is materially easier to judge visually. Keep conceptual choices in text.

Output

Return the decision, the rejected alternatives and why, unresolved risks, the design-document path, and the exact next planning action.

Provenance

This condensed Zulfiqar workflow is an independent reimplementation inspired by the design-before-coding pattern in obra/superpowers. It does not reproduce the upstream skill text. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.