pre-plan-brainstorm

# Pre-Plan Brainstorm — SKILL ## Why this exists Our Plan → Debate → Execute protocol (`PROTOCOL.md` §Session protocol Gate 3) consumes cycles in **Round 1 debate** resolving ambiguity that could have been resolved pre-plan. superpowers (MIT framework, 159k stars) battle-tested the pattern of **9-step brainstorm** as a prerequisite to drafting the plan itself. superpowers audit BORROW-1 (ADR-058 PROPOSED) adopts this pattern. **Same-LLM honesty:** this skill does not give the CEO independent "expertise" it lacks — all agents are the same underlying model. What it does is **force a checklist pass** that the CEO would otherwise skip under time pressure, and **produce a durable spec.md artifact** that survives across sessions and debate rounds. ## When to invoke **Mandatory** (opt-out via `CEO_BRAINSTORM_GATE=0`): - L3+ plan (`level: L3` or higher in frontmatter) - Plan crosses 3+ modules OR 2+ subsystems - Plan touches a VETO-protected domain (auth, financial, compliance) - First-of-kind feature (no close precedent in the repo) **Skip** (L1-L2 or well-precedented): - Bug fix in 1-2 files - Typo, log message, config tweak - Change with an exact precedent already committed - Mechanical refactoring (rename, extract, inline) with tests green **Ambiguity smell-tests (any one triggers brainstorm):** 1. The request uses "should" / "probably" / "maybe" / "I think" 2. Success criteria are not enumerable as pass/fail tests 3. The reviewer of the PR cannot be named up-front 4. Roll...