Skill v1.0.1
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version: "1.0.1"
name: strategy description: Run structured brainstorming sessions (divergent/convergent), improve prompts with 7-dimension framework, and apply decision frameworks (RICE, weighted scoring, first principles, pre-mortem). triggers:
- brainstorm ideas
- run an ideation session
- improve a prompt
- write a better prompt
- make decisions
- strategic thinking
- how to decide between options
- prompt engineering
- structured thinking
negatives:
- creative direction (use brand-design skill)
- content strategy (use content-marketing)
- personal coaching
- simple yes/no decisions without tradeoffs
- design feedback or visual critique
license: MIT compatibility: opencode metadata: workflow: strategy audience: developers version: "3.0.0"
Strategy
Structured thinking for brainstorming, prompt engineering, and decision making.
Workflow
Step 1: Intake & Framing
Extract the user's core need and classify it into one of three tracks:
| Track | Trigger | Output | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decision | "Should I...", "Which option...", "Help me choose..." | Scored recommendation with rationale and runner-up tradeoff | |
| Ideation | "Brainstorm...", "Generate ideas for...", "What are ways to..." | Prioritized list of ideas with convergent selection | |
| Clarity | "How do I think about...", "Improve this prompt", "Reframe..." | Restructured framing, 7-dimension prompt, or first-principles breakdown |
If the user's need spans multiple tracks, run them sequentially: Clarity → Ideation → Decision.
Step 2: Select Framework
For Decision track: Choose ICE if speed matters, Impact/Effort matrix if resources are constrained, First Principles if the problem feels stuck or assumed, Pre-Mortem if the decision is high-stakes and irreversible.
For Ideation track: Start with brainwriting (quantity). If ideas stall, inject SCAMPER or reverse brainstorming. Never open with free association for groups of 3+ — dominant voices take over.
For Clarity track: Run the 7-dimension prompt diagnosis. Identify which dimensions are weak (0-3 on a 1-10 scale). Rewrite the prompt addressing the weakest dimensions first.
Step 3: Execute Framework
Follow the framework protocol from its dedicated section below. Timebox strictly:
- Decision: 20 min (5 min framing, 10 min scoring, 5 min decision)
- Ideation: 60 min (divergent 30 min, cluster 10 min, convergent 20 min)
- Clarity: 10 min (diagnose 3 min, rewrite 5 min, changelog 2 min)
Step 4: Document & Deliver
Every strategy output must include:
- The chosen framework and why it was selected
- The raw output (scores, ideas, rewritten prompt)
- One recommended action with owner + next step + deadline
- One explicitly rejected alternative and the reason
Step 5: Verify Against Production Checklist
Run the Production Checklist before delivering. If any item is unchecked, return to the relevant step. Never deliver a strategy artifact that skips convergent selection or lacks a specified output format.
Brainstorming
1. Process
- Divergent (generate, no judgment) — 15-30 min
- Clustering (organize, group, eliminate) — 10-15 min
- Convergent (select, vote, prioritize) — 15-20 min
Never mix divergent and convergent — judgment kills ideas before they form.
2. Divergent Techniques
| Technique | How | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free association | Write everything, no filter | Warm-up, quantity | |
| Brainwriting 6-3-5 | 6 people write 3 ideas in 5 min, pass | Avoiding dominant voices | |
| Reverse brainstorming | How to make it worse? Then reverse. | Breaking assumptions | |
| Random word | Random noun → force connections | Lateral thinking | |
| SCAMPER | Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to use, Eliminate, Reverse | Systematic exploration | |
| HMW | Reframe as "How Might We" questions | Design thinking | |
| Worst idea | Generate terrible ideas, then invert | Reducing fear |
3. Convergent Techniques
| Technique | How | |
|---|---|---|
| Dot voting | 3-5 votes per person | |
| Impact/effort matrix | X: impact, Y: effort | |
| ICE scoring | Impact, Confidence, Ease (1-10, average) | |
| NUF test | New, Useful, Feasible (1-10 each) |
4. Session Template
| Phase | Duration | Activity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem framing | 10 min | Define "How might we..." question | |
| Warm-up | 5 min | Low-stakes exercise | |
| Divergent round 1 | 15 min | Brainwriting. Target: 30+ ideas | |
| Cluster | 10 min | Affinity mapping | |
| Divergent round 2 | 10 min | SCAMPER on strongest clusters | |
| Convergent | 15 min | Impact/effort matrix. Top 3-5 | |
| Action planning | 10 min | Owner, next step, deadline |
5. Session Ground Rules
- Defer judgment. Go for quantity (set targets: "50 ideas in 20 min")
- One conversation at a time. Build on "Yes, and..."
- Encourage wild ideas. Round-robin or brainwriting.
- Hard stop at 90 min.
Decision Frameworks
ICE Scoring
Score = Impact (1-10) × Confidence (1-10) × Ease (1-10)Higher = prioritize first
Impact/Effort Matrix
High Impact Low ImpactLow Effort → Do First → Quick WinsHigh Effort → Strategic → Don't Do
First Principles Thinking
- Identify the current belief/assumption
- Break it down into fundamental truths
- Rebuild from those truths
Current: "Our testing takes too long to run"Deconstruction: What IS testing? Verifying code behavior.Fundamental: We need confidence code works. Speed matters but accuracy matters more.Rebuild: What's the fastest way to get accuracy confidence? Change test scope to integration-focused.
Pre-Mortem Analysis
Before starting a project, imagine it failed 6 months from now:
- What went wrong? (list 5-10 failure modes)
- For each, what's the probability? (low/medium/high)
- For each, what's the impact? (minor/major/critical)
- Mitigation: What can we do NOW to prevent it?
Opportunity Cost
Choosing Option A means NOT choosing Options B-Z.Before committing, list: What else could these resources do?
Prompt Engineering
The 7 Dimensions
- Clarity — Remove ambiguity. Every noun and verb should have one interpretation.
- Specificity — Replace vague language with concrete details. Use names, paths, numbers.
- Constraints — Technology, resource, time, compliance hard boundaries.
- Format — Bullet list, table, code block, JSON, Mermaid. Tell the model how to answer.
- Examples — One example is worth 100 words of description.
- Tone — Internal message (direct), client email (professional-cordial), docs (neutral-precise), bug report (factual-minimal).
- Iteration Signal — "Start here, refine later" vs "Production-ready" vs "Give me options" vs "Just the code"
Enhancement Workflow
- Diagnose: Run through 7 dimensions — identify which are weak or missing
- Rewrite: Complete rewrite, don't annotate original
- Changelog: 1-2 bullet points per dimension improved
Specificity Table
| Vague | Specific | |
|---|---|---|
| "help with this code" | "refactor auth middleware in src/middleware/auth.ts" | |
| "some options" | "exactly 3 options ranked by cost" | |
| "make it better" | "improve load time from 3s to <1s on mobile Chrome" | |
| "explain" | "explain in 3 bullet points to a junior dev" |
Error Handling
| Error | Cause | Resolution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session runs over 90 min | Poor timeboxing | Assign a timer. Hard stop at 90 min regardless of progress | |
| Dominant voice dominates | No facilitation structure | Switch to brainwriting or round-robin. No open floor until last 10 min | |
| Ideas too similar / not novel | Groupthink | Insert reverse brainstorming or random-word technique mid-session | |
| No clear decision after convergent phase | Tie votes | Use ICE scoring as tiebreaker. Default to impact if still tied | |
| Prompt still produces bad output after rewrite | Diagnosed wrong dimension | Re-run 7-dimension check. Most often: missing constraint or missing example | |
| "I don't have ideas" block | Blank-page problem | Use worst-idea technique or reverse brainstorming to unstick |
Production Checklist
Before delivering a strategy artifact (session output, prompt, decision document):
- [ ] Problem statement defined in "How might we..." format
- [ ] Divergent and convergent phases kept separate with a clear transition
- [ ] Convergent selection uses at least one scoring method (ICE, impact/effort, dot voting)
- [ ] Prompt covers all 7 dimensions — no dimension is "N/A" without reason
- [ ] Prompt includes at least one example (dimension 5)
- [ ] Output format specified in prompt (dimension 4)
- [ ] Iteration signal included (dimension 7)
- [ ] Decision documented with rationale and runner-up tradeoff
- [ ] Action items: owner + next step + deadline
Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Why It Fails | Correction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed divergent and convergent | Judgment kills idea generation before it starts | Separate phases with a break. No "yes but" during divergent | |
| No warm-up | Cold start produces safe, boring ideas | Always do 5-min warm-up (e.g. "ideas for improving a paperclip") | |
| Dominant voices take over | Junior or quiet team members disengage | Use brainwriting, round-robin. No open discussion until convergent | |
| Too many people (8+) | Diffusion of responsibility, not enough airtime | 4-8 max per session. Split into parallel groups if larger team | |
| No follow-through | Great ideas die after the session | Assign ownership, next step, and deadline before closing | |
| Prompt too short (<10 words) | Model fills gaps with wrong assumptions | Expand to cover context, constraint, format, and example | |
| Compound request | Model optimizes for first instruction only | Split into separate prompts or use numbered list with weighting | |
| No output format | Model chooses — rarely the most useful one | Always specify format (JSON, table, bullet list, code block) | |
| Using ICE without confidence check | False precision — confidence is often guessed | Calibrate confidence: "how sure are you on a 1-10?" and average across 3 people | |
| Skipping opportunity cost | Overcommit to first good option | Before finalizing, ask: "What else could these resources do?" |
Advanced Decision Frameworks
RICE Scoring
Score features: Score = (Reach * Impact * Confidence) / Effort
- Reach: how many users affected (1-1000+)
- Impact: 0.25 (minimal), 0.5 (low), 1 (medium), 2 (high), 3 (massive)
- Confidence: 20% (gut), 50% (some data), 80% (quantified), 100% (A/B tested)
- Effort: person-months
Kano Model
Classify features: Basic (expected, absence = dissatisfaction), Performance (more = better), Delighter (unexpected, absence = neutral). Prioritize: Basic → Performance → Delighter.
OKR-to-Task Decomposition
- Objective: qualitative, inspiring, time-bound (quarter)
- Key Results: 3-5 quantitative outcomes
- Tasks: decompose each KR into 2-3 actionable tasks per week
Sources
- Alex Osborn "Applied Imagination"
- IDEO design thinking
- d.school Stanford facilitation guides
- Jake Knapp "Sprint"
- Annie Duke "Thinking in Bets"
- First Principles (Elon Musk / Richard Feynman approach)
- Fermi Estimation techniques
Checklist
- [ ] Skill loads without errors in the AI agent
- [ ] YAML frontmatter is valid (description, compatibility, audience)
- [ ] Workflow section provides clear step-by-step instructions
- [ ] Error handling section covers common failure modes
- [ ] All referenced files (references/, scripts/, assets/) exist
- [ ] Skill triggers correctly for intended use cases
- [ ] No broken links or missing resources