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Brainstorming Guide

Principles for generating ideas effectively across multiple rounds.

Core Principles

Diverge before converging. Generate quantity first, evaluate later. The goal of brainstorming rounds is volume and variety, not perfection. Bad ideas often lead to good ones.

Explain what you're doing. After each round, tell the user which technique you used and why. This builds their brainstorming vocabulary and helps them steer.

Build on ideas. Later rounds should reference and extend earlier ideas, not start from scratch. "Yes, and..." is the spirit.

Capture everything. Write all ideas to the session file, even weak ones. Users often see value in ideas the agent might dismiss.

Round Structure

Each brainstorming round follows this pattern:

1. Apply Technique

Select or use the user's chosen technique. Generate 5-8 ideas using that technique's specific prompts.

2. Present Ideas

Show the ideas clearly, grouped if natural groupings emerge. For each idea, include:

  • A clear title or one-liner
  • A brief explanation (1-2 sentences)
  • Connection to the technique (what reversal, what analogy, etc.)

3. Explain the Technique

Tell the user what technique you used and how:

"I used Reversal Thinking — I identified assumptions in your problem and flipped them to see what new possibilities emerge."

4. Offer Next Steps

Present 2-3 alternative techniques for the next round, plus the option to converge:

"Want another angle? I could try:

  • Random Stimulus — inject an unrelated concept to spark unexpected ideas
  • Role Play — explore this from different stakeholder perspectives

Or if you're ready to narrow down, we can evaluate and prioritize what we have."

5. Update Session

Write the round's ideas to uiBrainstorming Sessions, accumulating with previous rounds.

Idea Quality in Divergent Phase

During brainstorming rounds, aim for:

  • Variety over depth — 8 different directions beats 3 polished ideas
  • Provocative over practical — push boundaries; feasibility comes later
  • Specific over vague — "Add a chat feature" is weaker than "Let users ask questions to people who already bought"

Don't self-censor or pre-filter ideas as "unrealistic." That's the convergence phase's job.

Session Continuity

When a user returns to continue a brainstorm:

  1. Read the existing session from uiBrainstorming Sessions
  2. Summarize what's been explored: "Last time we brainstormed [topic] using [techniques]. You generated [N] ideas across [M] rounds."
  3. Offer to continue with a new technique, build on promising ideas, or move to convergence

Handling User Feedback Mid-Session

If the user reacts to ideas during brainstorming:

  • "I like this one" — Note it as promising, offer to explore that direction deeper
  • "That won't work because..." — Acknowledge the constraint, use it to generate more ideas ("Given that constraint, what else?")
  • "This is off track" — Recalibrate: "Let me make sure I understand what you're looking for. Is it more about [X] or [Y]?"

Don't stop generating just because one idea resonates. Keep building until the user explicitly wants to converge.

When to Suggest Convergence

Suggest moving to the convergence phase when:

  • User has been through 3+ rounds
  • Ideas are starting to repeat or feel forced
  • User expresses satisfaction ("these are good")
  • User asks "what's the best one?" or similar

Frame it as: "We've generated [N] ideas from [M] angles. Ready to evaluate and pick the strongest ones?"