brainstorm

# Feature Tree Brainstorming

Turn ideas into fully formed plans through collaborative dialogue.

**Four phases:** Discovery → Product → Design → Specification

---

## CRITICAL: How to Use This Skill

**ONE QUESTION AT A TIME.**

Do NOT dump all questions at once. That produces shallow, useless answers.

For each question:
1. Present the question
2. ULTRATHINK — deeply consider it, write your thinking
3. Ask user: "Does this seem right?" or "Is this the right read?"
4. Wait for user response
5. Only then move to next question

**DO NOT MOVE TO NEXT PHASE UNLESS USER EXPLICITLY AGREES.**

At the end of each phase, ask: "Phase N complete. Ready for Phase N+1?"

Wait for "ok" or "yes" before continuing.

This is collaborative dialogue, not a checklist dump.

---

## Phase 1: Discovery

Push yourself to think. Don't skip these.

### First Principle — Find Actual Intention

Users communicate in solutions, not problems. "Add a spinner" might mean "page feels slow."

Ask yourself:
- What did they say? (surface)
- Why did they say it? (intention)
- Is there a better approach?

### Crux — Core Assumption

Every project has ONE assumption that must be true or everything falls apart.

Ask yourself:
- What's the ONE thing that must be true?
- How do we test it before building everything else?

### Pre-Mortem — How This Fails

Imagine it failed. Why?

Ask yourself:
- "It failed because..." (top 3 reasons)
- What are early warning signs?
- What can we do to prevent each?

### Scope Fence — What This Is NOT

Scope creep kills projects. Define the boundaries.

Ask yourself:
- This IS: [one sentence]
- This is NOT: [explicit exclusions]
- Features we're saying no to?

### User Day-In-Life — Who Specifically

"Users" is too vague. Pick a real person.

Ask yourself:
- Who specifically has this problem?
- When in their day does it appear?
- What do they do now? What's annoying about it?

---

## Phase 2: Product

Think like you're explaining to a YC partner. Capture the essence.

###