Idea Refine

Idea Refinement

Overview

Turn a vague idea into a focused, actionable direction. This skill uses structured divergent-convergent thinking: first expand possibilities, then evaluate and converge on the strongest direction, then sharpen into a one-pager ready for spec writing.

Philosophy: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Say no to 1,000 things to focus on the one that matters.

When to Use

• A feature request or product idea is unclear or overly broad
• You need to explore multiple directions before committing
• Stakeholders have different interpretations of "what we're building"
• Before writing a spec (feeds into spec-driven-development)

Skip when: The requirement is already specific and unambiguous.

Core Process

Phase 1: Understand & Expand (Divergent)

1. Restate as "How Might We" — Convert the idea into an open question

• "Add offline support" → "How might we ensure users can accomplish core tasks without connectivity?"

1. Ask sharpening questions (answer or surface for human input):

• Who specifically benefits? (persona, not "users")
• What does success look like? (measurable outcome)
• What constraints exist? (timeline, tech debt, API limitations, minSdk)
• What has been tried before?

1. Generate 5–8 variations using these lenses:

• Inversion: What if we solved the opposite problem?
• Constraint removal: What if we had no legacy code / no backward compatibility?
• Simplification: What is the absolute minimum version?
• Combination: What if we merged this with another planned feature?
• Analogy: How do other Android apps solve this? (study Play Store top apps)

Phase 2: Evaluate & Converge

1. Cluster into 2–3 directions — group related variations
2. Stress-test each direction:

• Technical feasibility (existing modules, Android API levels, library support)
• User impact (who benefits, how much)
• Effort estimate (small / medium / large)
• Risk profile (what could go wrong)

1. Surface hidden assumptions — list every assumption with a validation strategy

• "Assumption: Room migrations will handle schema changes → Validate: write migration test"

Phase 3: Sharpen & Ship

1. Write a one-pager with:

• Problem statement (1–2 sentences)
• Recommended direction (with rationale)
• Key assumptions (with validation plan)
• MVP scope (what's in the first slice)
• "Not Doing" list (explicit exclusions — critical for scope discipline)

Common Rationalizations

| Shortcut | Why It Fails | |----------|-------------| | "The idea is obvious, skip to coding" | Obvious ideas have hidden assumptions. Shipping the wrong thing wastes more time than 30 minutes of refinement. | | "We explored enough in the meeting" | Verbal exploration is lossy. Written exploration catches gaps. | | "Let's just build an MVP and see" | An unfocused MVP tests nothing. Define what you're testing first. | | "We don't have time to explore" | Exploration prevents rework. 30 minutes now saves days later. |

Red Flags

• No "Not Doing" list (scope will creep)
• Single direction explored (confirmation bias)
• Assumptions listed without validation strategies
• MVP scope includes "and also…" additions
• No measurable success criteria

Verification

Before moving to spec:

• [ ] Problem restated as "How Might We" question
• [ ] At least 5 variations generated using different lenses
• [ ] 2–3 directions evaluated with feasibility, impact, effort, risk
• [ ] All assumptions listed with validation strategies
• [ ] One-pager written with problem, direction, assumptions, MVP scope, exclusions
• [ ] Human has reviewed and approved the direction

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: GuillemRoca
• Source: GuillemRoca/agent-skills-android
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.