1.5 KiB
1.5 KiB
Ideation
Purpose
Generate strong options quickly without locking too early onto the first plausible idea.
When to use
- The user wants multiple concepts, approaches, or product directions
- Requirements are early and the solution space is still wide
- A team needs creative alternatives before choosing a path
- You want to escape local maxima in product or technical thinking
Inputs to gather
- Goal, audience, constraints, and success criteria
- What is already known, tried, or ruled out
- Time, complexity, and implementation constraints
- The desired balance of novelty versus practicality
How to work
- Produce several meaningfully different options, not minor variations of one idea.
- Cover a range from safer to bolder approaches when useful.
- Make tradeoffs explicit so ideas are easy to compare.
- Keep ideas concrete enough that someone can imagine implementation or execution.
- Narrow only after the option space is genuinely explored.
Output expectations
- Distinct options with concise descriptions
- Tradeoffs, strengths, and risks for each option
- A recommended direction when appropriate
Quality checklist
- Options are genuinely different in mechanism or strategy.
- Ideas respect the stated constraints.
- Tradeoffs are visible rather than implied.
- Recommendations, if given, follow from the comparison.
Handoff notes
- Note whether the ideas are exploratory, implementation-ready, or need structured narrowing next.
- Pair with structured brainstorming when the next step is selecting and shaping one path.