git:20260921.0e86c1a to git:20260930.dd7591d

68 added, 80 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: brainstorm-socratic

- description: The Socratic questioning technique that converges a vague goal — question selection, one-to-three-per-turn pacing, the reflect-every-two-answers cadence, the nine-question hard cap, and the eight-point convergence checklist that defines "converged". This is the USER-FACING of the brainstorm protocol's two modes — use it when the decision is the owner's to make; when it is the session's own, the mode is skill.brainstorm-internal and there is nobody to question. The protocol owns entry/exit conditions, mode selection and where output lands; this skill owns how to converge with a person.

+ description: The Socratic questioning technique that converges a vague goal — question selection, one-to-three-per-turn pacing, the reflect-every-two-answers cadence, the nine-question hard cap, and the eight-point convergence checklist that defines "converged". This is the user-facing of the brainstorm protocol's two modes — use it when the decision is the owner's to make; when it is the session's own, the mode is skill.brainstorm-internal and there is nobody to question. The protocol owns entry/exit conditions, mode selection and where output lands; this skill owns how to converge with a person.

id: skill.brainstorm-socratic

tier: 2

kind: skill

origin: seed

title: brainstorm-socratic — the user-facing brainstorm mode — questioning that converges a goal, capped at nine questions

owns:

- brainstorm-socratic.method

requires:

peers:

- protocol.brainstorm

- skill.brainstorm-internal

- skill.humanizer

- skill.spec-author

load_when:

- "converge a vague or contested goal"

- "socratic questioning for requirements"

- "brainstorm a new feature idea"

- "the goal is too fuzzy to specify"

- "ask the owner what they actually want"

artifacts:

- templates/grill.template.md

prevents: A convergence pass that never converges — open-ended questioning with no cap and no checklist, which from the outside is indistinguishable from stalling.

- est_tokens: 955

+ est_tokens: 1100

---

# brainstorm-socratic

- **This is the mode with a person in it.** It applies when the answer is the

- owner's to give — what to build, for whom, what counts as done, which tradeoff

- they have to live with. When the decision is the session's own, there is nobody

- to question and the technique below does not apply: use

- `docs/graph/skills/brainstorm-internal.md`. `brainstorm.mode-selection` in

- `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md` owns the test.

+ This is the mode with a person in it. It applies when the answer is the

+ owner's to give: what to build, for whom, what counts as done, which

+ tradeoff they have to live with. When the decision is the session's own,

+ use `docs/graph/skills/brainstorm-internal.md`;

+ `brainstorm.mode-selection` in `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md` owns

+ the test.

- A goal that arrives as "build me a thing" is not yet ready to specify

- or plan. This skill is the questioning technique that takes it from

- vague to precise — without designing the UI, picking a framework, or

- pre-committing to architecture. It is applied inside

- `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md`, which owns entry conditions, the grill.md

- output map, and the explicit-confirmation exit; this file owns the

- method.

+ A goal that arrives as "build me a thing" is not yet ready to specify or

+ plan. This skill ONLY converges the goal from vague to precise: the UI

+ emerges later from the user flow, and framework and architecture wait

+ for `architect`, after research. It is applied inside

+ `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md`, which owns entry conditions, the

+ grill.md output map, and the explicit-confirmation exit; this file owns

+ the method.

## How to brainstorm

### Ask the smallest set of questions that change the design the most

Bad: "What colour?", "What should the homepage look like?", "What

framework?"

- Good: "Who is this for and what do they do today instead?", "What

- counts as success one month in?", "What is explicitly out of scope?"

+ Good: "Who is this for and what do they do today instead?", "What counts

+ as success one month in?", "What is explicitly out of scope?"

- Limit: **one to three questions per turn, no more**. Pace matters

- — each set of answers reshapes the next question. Twenty questions

- at once gets answered with platitudes.

+ Limit: one to three questions per turn, and the main flow before its

+ edge cases, because each set of answers reshapes the next question and

+ twenty questions at once get answered with platitudes.

### Reflect every two answers

- After every two answers, write a one-paragraph reflection:

- "I now believe X. Tell me where I'm wrong."

+ After every two answers, write a one-paragraph reflection: "I now

+ believe X. Tell me where I'm wrong."

- This forces the brainstorm to converge and lets the user

- disagree precisely.

+ This forces the brainstorm to converge and lets the user disagree

+ precisely.

### Hard cap at nine questions total

- If you haven't converged in nine questions, accept the gaps. Mark

- each one as an assumption in grill.md §12, write what you have,

- and proceed to `specify`.

+ If you haven't converged in nine questions, accept the gaps. Mark each

+ one as an assumption in grill.md §12, write what you have, and proceed

+ to `specify`.

- A brainstorm that drags past nine questions is usually trying to

- specify and plan at the same time. Stop; move to `specify`.

+ A brainstorm that drags past nine questions is usually trying to specify

+ and plan at the same time. Stop; move to `specify`. Brainstorm is a

+ step: it converges enough to start specifying, and the spec refines

+ further.

## The convergence checklist

By the end of brainstorm, you can write the following without

hand-waving:

- 1. **Problem statement.** One sentence. "X user does Y today; we

- want them to be able to Z instead."

- 2. **Primary user.** A specific role and context, not "developers"

- or "users".

- 3. **First useful slice.** The smallest end-to-end thing that

- delivers the outcome for one well-defined case.

- 4. **Success criteria.** Measurable, with a time horizon.

- Quantitative where possible; qualitative with explicit rubrics

- where not.

- 5. **Non-goals.** Three to five things this is explicitly not.

- 6. **Operating constraints.** Runtime, security, privacy, data,

- cost, latency, compliance, maintenance — at least the ones

- that bind.

+ 1. **Problem statement.** One sentence. "X user does Y today; we want

+ them to be able to Z instead."

+ 2. **Primary user.** A specific role and context, not "developers" or

+ "users".

+ 3. **First useful slice.** The smallest end-to-end thing that delivers

+ the outcome for one well-defined case.

+ 4. **Success criteria.** Measurable, with a time horizon. Quantitative

+ where possible; qualitative with explicit rubrics where not.

+ 5. **Non-goals.** Three to five things this is explicitly not; they are

+ what holds scope.

+ 6. **Operating constraints.** Runtime, security, privacy, data, cost,

+ latency, compliance, maintenance: at least the ones that bind.

7. **Shaped options.** Two to four named technical approaches with

- one-line summaries, not full designs. Each option names the

- tradeoff it makes.

- 8. **Risks and assumptions.** The top three risks; every

- assumption that, if false, changes the plan.

- ## Anti-patterns

- - **Boiling the ocean.** Asking twenty questions about edge cases

- before the main flow is clear.

- - **Premature framework choice.** "Should we use X or Y?" Wait for

- `architect` after research.

- - **Designing the UI.** UI emerges from the user flow, which

- emerges from the outcome.

- - **Skipping non-goals.** Without non-goals, scope grows

- uncontrollably.

- - **Pretending the user is "everyone".** Pick one.

- - **Treating brainstorm as a milestone instead of a step.**

- Brainstorm converges enough to start specifying; the spec then

- refines further.

+ one-line summaries, not full designs. Each option names the tradeoff

+ it makes.

+ 8. **Risks and assumptions.** The top three risks; every assumption

+ that, if false, changes the plan.

- ## Reference files

+ ## What the owner actually reads

- - `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md` — the workflow: entry, output map, exit.

- - `docs/graph/protocols/specify.md` — the protocol that consumes brainstorm

- output.

- - `docs/graph/templates/grill.template.md` — where brainstorm output is

- recorded.

+ Converging is half the job. The other half is that the person can tell

+ what they are agreeing to.

- ## What the owner actually reads

+ Everything this mode puts in front of the owner (the reflections, the

+ options, the problem statement they are asked to confirm) goes through

+ `docs/graph/skills/humanizer.md` as it is drafted, carrying every fact

+ intact.

- Converging is half the job. The other half is that the person can tell what they

- are agreeing to.

+ An options table is a working artifact. A person confirming "yes, that

+ one" off a table has agreed to a row, not to a decision, and the

+ difference surfaces later as "that isn't what I thought I picked". State

+ what is being decided, why it is on the table now, what each option

+ commits them to, and what it would cost to change later. The

+ confirmation this mode waits for is only worth waiting for if it was

+ informed.

- Everything this mode puts in front of the owner — the reflections, the options,

- the problem statement they are asked to confirm — goes through

- `docs/graph/skills/humanizer.md` before it is sent. Not restyled afterwards:

- drafted as prose a person reads, carrying every fact intact.

+ ## Reference files

- An options table is a working artifact. A person confirming "yes, that one" off

- a table has agreed to a row, not to a decision — and the difference surfaces

- later as "that isn't what I thought I picked". State what is being decided, why

- it is on the table now, what each option commits them to, and what it would cost

- to change later. The confirmation this mode waits for is only worth waiting for

- if it was informed.

+ - `docs/graph/protocols/brainstorm.md`: the workflow: entry, output map,

+ exit.

+ - `docs/graph/protocols/specify.md`: the protocol that consumes

+ brainstorm output.

+ - `docs/graph/templates/grill.template.md`: where brainstorm output is

+ recorded.