idea-storm

Idea Storm

A short brainstorm gives you the three obvious ideas everyone gets. This maximizes range instead: it runs your prompt through many different generative lenses — the safe idea, the wild idea, the cheapest idea, the most ambitious, the weirdest, the opposite — to produce a genuinely wide spread, then clusters and shortlists so the volume is usable. Wide first, then narrow.

What This Skill Produces

• A high-volume idea list — many ideas, deliberately varied, generated without early judgment
• Multiple lenses applied — safe / wild / cheap / ambitious / weird / opposite / adjacent-industry angles, so the range is real
• Theme clusters — the ideas grouped so the volume is navigable
• A shortlist — the most promising handful, flagged for a next step
• A wildcard — at least one genuinely out-there option worth a second look

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The prompt — what you need ideas for (a name, a gift, a solution, a plan, a project)
• Any constraints — budget, time, must-haves (applied lightly — this is generation)
• The vibe — practical, creative, or anything-goes
• How many — a rough target (more than you think)

Framework: Many Lenses, Then Cluster

1. Generate across lenses, not one. Run the prompt through varied angles — safe, wild, cheap, ambitious, weird, opposite, from-another-field — so ideas differ in kind, not just wording.
2. Chase volume, defer judgment. Aim high and don't evaluate mid-generation; quantity and range are the job here.
3. Include the wildcards. Deliberately produce a few genuinely strange ideas — they're often where the good ones hide or get sparked.
4. Cluster into themes. Group the flood into a few themes so it's usable, not overwhelming.
5. Shortlist the promising. Pick the handful worth pursuing and flag one wildcard to keep — the narrowing comes after the widening.

Output Format

Ideas for: [the prompt]

The storm (by lens)

• Safe: […] · Wild: […] · Cheap: […] · Ambitious: […] · Weird: […] · Opposite: […] · From another field: […]

Clustered

• [Theme]: [ideas]. [Theme]: [ideas].

Shortlist: [the most promising few].

Wildcard to keep: [one out-there option].

Quality Checks

• [ ] High volume with genuine variety (ideas differ in kind)
• [ ] Multiple distinct lenses were applied
• [ ] Judgment was deferred during generation
• [ ] Ideas are clustered into usable themes
• [ ] A shortlist plus a wildcard is provided

Anti-Patterns

• Three obvious ideas and stopping.
• Ideas that are all variations of one concept.
• Judging mid-generation and narrowing too early.
• A flat wall of ideas with no clustering or shortlist.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Brainstorm ideas for my startup's name."
• "Give me lots of options for a 40th birthday gift."
• "I need ideas for content to post this month."
• "Help me come up with ways to use this spare room."
• "Idea-storm solutions to my team's meeting overload."