/ideate

Comprehensive discovery system for validating product ideas, gathering requirements, and generating professional Product Briefs before implementation.

Quick Start

The discovery system provides two specialized commands:

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="your product idea"                    # Complete discovery workflow
/ideate:brief TOPIC="..." IDEATION=... RESEARCH=...      # Generate brief from existing files

Overview

The discovery system enables:

1. Validate ideas before implementation - Run structured analysis on features and products
2. Gather insights from multiple perspectives - Deploy domain experts (security, performance, UX, etc.)
3. Research market and competitive landscape - Understand market context
4. Generate professional Product Briefs - Create artifacts ready for epic planning
5. Bridge from idea to implementation - Structured path from vague idea to detailed stories

Discovery is essential for:

• New features - Is it worth building? How should it work?
• Major products - What's the market opportunity? What's competitive?
• Architecture decisions - What are the tradeoffs? What could go wrong?
• MVP planning - What's the minimum viable set of features?
• Stakeholder alignment - Clear, shared understanding before development

Subcommands

/ideate:discover - Complete Discovery Workflow

Run a full structured discovery process that orchestrates brainstorming, optional research, and Product Brief generation.

Purpose: Bridge gap between vague idea and epic planning with validated requirements.

Command:

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="your product" [DEPTH=quick|guided|deep]

Parameters:

What It Does:

1. Brainstorm via multi-expert analysis (6 domain experts in parallel)
2. Research (optional in quick mode) - Market, competitive, technical feasibility
3. Synthesize - Generate Product Brief with feature prioritization

Output: Professional Product Brief saved to docs/08-project/briefs/{date}-{topic}-brief.md

Use Cases:

• DEPTH=quick - Well-understood features or iterations (5-10 min)
• DEPTH=guided - New features with some uncertainty (30-45 min) - Recommended
• DEPTH=deep - Major products or architectural decisions (2+ hours)

Learn more: /ideate:discover

/ideate:brief - Synthesize Findings into Brief

Generate a Product Brief from existing ideation and research files, or search for recent files automatically.

Purpose: Convert brainstorming results and research findings into structured Product Brief artifact.

Command:

Copy/ideate:brief TOPIC="your product" [IDEATION=path] [RESEARCH=paths]

Parameters:

What It Does:

1. Reads ideation report and research findings
2. Cross-references confidence levels with research validation
3. Prioritizes features using MoSCoW method
4. Generates professional Product Brief
5. Saves to docs/08-project/briefs/{date}-{topic}-brief.md

Use Cases:

• You already ran /ideate:new and want to synthesize results
• You have research files and want to generate a brief
• You want to combine ideation from multiple expert sessions
• You want to refine/iterate on a brief with new research

Learn more: /ideate:brief

Workflow Example: From Idea to Implementation

Step 1: Discover
  /ideate:discover TOPIC="Mobile Time Tracking App" DEPTH=guided
  ↓
  Output: docs/08-project/briefs/20250214-mobile-time-tracking-app-brief.md

Step 2: Review Brief
  cat docs/08-project/briefs/20250214-mobile-time-tracking-app-brief.md
  ↓
  Validated features with MoSCoW prioritization

Step 3: Create Epic
  /epic EP-0123 TITLE="Mobile Time Tracking App" \
    GOAL="Reduce timesheet creation from 30 min to 2 min" \
    RESEARCH=docs/08-project/briefs/20250214-mobile-time-tracking-app-brief.md
  ↓
  Epic ready for decomposition

Step 4: Create Stories
  /story US-0001 TITLE="Basic Timer" EPIC=EP-0123
  /story US-0002 TITLE="Project Selection" EPIC=EP-0123
  /story US-0003 TITLE="Export to Invoice" EPIC=EP-0123
  ↓
  Stories ready for assignment

Step 5: Implement
  /assign STORY=US-0001 NEW_OWNER=claude
  /babysit EPIC=EP-0123
  ↓
  Implementation with guided mentoring

Discovery Phases

Phase 1: Brainstorm (via /ideate:new)

Deploy domain experts to analyze your codebase:

• Security Expert - Security features, compliance requirements
• Performance Expert - Scalability, optimization opportunities
• Code Quality Expert - Maintainability, refactoring opportunities
• UX Expert - User experience, accessibility improvements
• Testing Expert - Test coverage, reliability requirements
• API Expert - API design, integration patterns

Each expert generates ideas with confidence scores.

Phase 2: Research (optional in quick mode)

Investigate external context:

• Market analysis - Is there demand? Market size?
• Competitive features - What do competitors offer?
• Technical feasibility - Can we build it? What are tradeoffs?
• User research - What do actual users want?
• Best practices - How do others solve similar problems?

Use /research:ask to generate detailed research prompts for external AI tools.

Phase 3: Synthesis (via /ideate:brief)

Convert findings into Product Brief:

1. Extract feature ideas and confidence scores
2. Cross-reference with research validation
3. Group related ideas
4. Assign MoSCoW priorities (MUST/SHOULD/COULD/WON'T)
5. Estimate effort (High/Medium/Low)
6. Generate professional document

Output Structure

Discovery produces a Product Brief with:

docs/08-project/briefs/{YYYYMMDD}-{topic-slug}-brief.md

Brief Sections

1. Executive Summary - Problem, value proposition, success criteria
2. User Personas - Who we're building for
3. Features with MoSCoW Prioritization:
   • MUST HAVE - High confidence (2+ experts), build first
   • SHOULD HAVE - Medium confidence (1 expert, validated), build next
   • COULD HAVE - Low confidence, build if capacity
   • WON'T HAVE - Explicitly out of scope
4. Success Metrics - How we measure success
5. Business Case - ROI, strategic value, competitive advantage
6. Risks & Mitigation - Known challenges and solutions
7. Next Steps - Path to epic creation and implementation

Depth Modes Explained

Quick (5-10 minutes)

When to use: Well-scoped features, iterations, minor changes

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="Add dark mode toggle" DEPTH=quick

Process:

1. Auto-run brainstorming (6 experts, quick analysis)
2. Skip research phase
3. Generate brief immediately

Output: Feature list with expert perspectives, no market research

Example: Dark mode, CSV export, new dashboard view

Guided (30-45 minutes) - Recommended

When to use: New features, moderate uncertainty, standard development

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="OAuth integration" DEPTH=guided

Process:

1. Interactive brainstorming (you select scope and depth)
2. Optional research (system asks if you want to research)
3. Review expert findings
4. Curate features before brief generation
5. Generate brief

Output: Curated Product Brief with research context

Example: New authentication system, payment processing, analytics dashboard

Deep (2+ hours)

When to use: Major products, architectural changes, significant investment

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="Microservices migration" DEPTH=deep

Process:

1. Comprehensive brainstorming (6 experts, detailed analysis)
2. Multi-stage research (market, competitive, technical)
3. Synthesize all findings
4. Detailed brief with competitive positioning

Output: Comprehensive Product Brief with market context

Example: Platform rewrite, new service offering, major architecture change

Best Practices

1. Choose Appropriate Depth

Balance thoroughness with speed:

Copy# Quick for routine changes
/ideate:discover TOPIC="Fix login bug" DEPTH=quick
 
# Guided for new features (recommended)
/ideate:discover TOPIC="Export to PDF" DEPTH=guided
 
# Deep for major decisions
/ideate:discover TOPIC="Database migration to PostgreSQL" DEPTH=deep

2. Include Research for Validation

Combine brainstorming with research:

Copy/ideate:discover TOPIC="Mobile app" DEPTH=guided
# System will ask if you want to research
# Say yes to validate ideas

3. Iterate on Briefs

Briefs improve with feedback:

Copy# Initial discovery
/ideate:discover TOPIC="Feature X" DEPTH=quick
 
# Get feedback from team
# Additional research
 
# Refine brief
/ideate:brief TOPIC="Feature X" RESEARCH=docs/10-research/feedback.md

4. Use Brief as Epic Reference

Link epic to brief for traceability:

Copy/epic EP-0001 TITLE="Feature X" \
  RESEARCH=docs/08-project/briefs/20250214-feature-x-brief.md

This preserves context about why features were prioritized.

Related Commands

• /ideate:new - Generate improvement ideas (phase 1)
• /research:ask - Generate research prompts (phase 2)
• /research:import - Import research findings
• /epic - Create epic from brief
• /story - Decompose epic into stories
• /babysit - Guided implementation