By name: ideation description: Generate creative ideas through structured brainstorming techniques. Use when user wants to "brainstorm", "generate ideas", "think creatively", "SCAMPER", "walt disney method", "reverse brainstorm", "come up with options", or needs to break out of conventional thinking. allowed-tools: Read
Ideation - Creative Idea Generator
Generate ideas systematically using structured creativity techniques. Break out of habitual thinking to find unexpected solutions.
Quick Start
- Define what you're generating ideas for
- Select technique based on what kind of thinking you need
- Generate many ideas before evaluating any
Technique Selection
| Need | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Systematically modify existing concept | SCAMPER | Structured prompts cover all modification angles |
| Balance wild ideas with practicality | Walt Disney Method | Separates dreaming, planning, and critiquing |
| Stuck and need fresh perspective | Reverse Brainstorming | Solve the opposite problem to unlock thinking |
Default: Use SCAMPER for improving existing things, Walt Disney for new concepts.
Techniques
SCAMPER
Systematic prompts to modify and improve ideas: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to Another Use, Eliminate, Rearrange.
Read cookbook/scamper.md
Walt Disney Method
Three distinct phases: Dreamer (wild ideas), Realist (practical planning), Critic (find problems). Named after Disney's creative process.
Reverse Brainstorming
Generate ideas by solving the opposite problem. "How do we make this worse?" leads to "How do we make it better."
Read cookbook/reverse-brainstorming.md
Core Principles
- Quantity first - Generate many ideas before judging any
- Wild is welcome - Impractical ideas often spark practical ones
- Build on ideas - "Yes, and..." beats "No, but..."
- Defer judgment - Evaluation kills creativity if done too early
- Capture everything - Write it down, even the "bad" ideas
When Ideation Works Best
- Need fresh approaches to stale problems
- Current solutions aren't good enough
- Brainstorming sessions produce same old ideas
- Want to explore possibility space
- Team is stuck in conventional thinking
The Ideation Mindset
Treat ideation as exploration, not evaluation. The goal isn't to find THE answer - it's to expand what's possible before narrowing down.
Bad ideas are valuable:
- They might spark good ideas
- They define the boundary of possibility
- They give permission for risk-taking
- They're often not as bad as they first seem