brainstorming

Brainstorming

Overview

Explore the design space before committing to a single approach. Brainstorming produces 2-3 concrete alternatives with explicit tradeoffs, then converges on an approved direction. This phase prevents the most expensive mistake: building the wrong thing correctly.

When To Use

• The engineer says "how should we..." or "what's the best way to..."
• Multiple implementation approaches are plausible
• The task involves architectural decisions with long-term consequences
• The scope or requirements are ambiguous
• Before spec-driven-development when the design direction is not obvious

When NOT To Use

• The approach is already clear and agreed upon
• The task is a bug fix, config change, or narrow refactor
• The engineer explicitly says "just do it this way"

Workflow

1. Explore context before proposing anything:

   • Read CLAUDE.md and relevant architecture-principles
   • Read existing code in the affected area
   • Check recent git history for relevant decisions or attempts
   • Understand current constraints (tech stack, patterns, conventions)

2. Ask clarifying questions one at a time:

   • Focus on constraints that would eliminate approaches
   • Ask about non-functional requirements (performance, compatibility, timeline)
   • Ask about user/caller expectations
   • Stop asking when you have enough to differentiate approaches

3. Propose 2-3 concrete approaches with this structure for each:

   • Approach name — one-line summary
   • How it works — concrete description with file/component names
   • Pros — specific advantages for this codebase
   • Cons — specific risks, costs, or limitations
   • Effort — relative complexity (files touched, new abstractions needed)
   • Fits when — the conditions under which this approach is the best choice

4. Present a recommendation with reasoning:

   • Which approach you'd pick and why
   • What would change your recommendation
   • Risks of the recommended approach and how to mitigate them

5. Get approval on the direction before proceeding:

   • Wait for the engineer to confirm, modify, or redirect
   • If the engineer picks a different approach, acknowledge and adapt
   • Do not start implementation without explicit approval

6. Persist the decision if the work will continue to spec:

   • Save to docs/specs/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-brainstorm.md if docs/specs/ exists
   • Include: approaches considered, decision rationale, and constraints that drove the choice
   • This enables session recovery and future reference for why the design was chosen

Rules

• No implementation during brainstorming. Not even "let me try something quick."
• Approaches must be concrete enough to compare, not hand-wavy.
• Tradeoffs must be honest. Do not soft-sell the recommended approach.
• Respect the engineer's choice even when you disagree.
• If only one approach is viable, say so and explain why alternatives don't work.

Common Rationalizations

See .claude/skills/context-engineering/SKILL.md for the shared table. Brainstorming-specific traps: "there's really only one way to do this" (then present that one approach and explain why alternatives don't apply — the discipline still helps), and "let me prototype and then we'll decide" (prototyping creates sunk-cost bias — decide on the approach first, then build).

Red Flags

• Implementation started before the approach was approved
• Only one approach presented when multiple are viable
• Tradeoffs described vaguely instead of concretely
• Engineer's choice overridden silently
• Brainstorming used to stall instead of converge

Verification

• Context was explored before proposing approaches
• At least 2 approaches were presented (or a clear argument for only one)
• Each approach has concrete pros, cons, and effort
• A recommendation was stated with reasoning
• The engineer approved a direction before any implementation