flow-designer_skill

Overview

This skill helps teams design features through structured brainstorming and make clear architectural decisions before implementation. It guides creation and resolution of discussion subjects, assigns resolution types (A/B/C/D), and updates iteration and PLAN.md documentation accordingly. Use it to capture rationale, pre-tasks, and action items so work starts with a validated plan.

How this skill works

The skill inspects the current iteration in .flow/DASHBOARD.md and the task file for an existing Brainstorming section. It creates or updates subject lists, walks through each subject with the user, recommends a resolution type, and writes resolved subject sections into the task file. For Type B decisions it updates .flow/PLAN.md with decision, rationale, trade-offs, and DO/DON'T guidelines. It collects Type A pre-tasks and Type D action items and sets iteration status based on remaining prerequisites.

When to use it

• When you want to brainstorm feature approaches or design options
• When you need to decide architecture or technology choices
• When you want to capture rationale and create action items before coding
• When you need to update PLAN.md with architecture decisions
• When you want to convert discussions into tracked pre-tasks and iteration work

Best practices

• Start brainstorming within the current iteration so outputs map to work items
• Keep subjects focused and short — one decision per subject
• Classify each subject with A/B/C/D to drive clear outcomes (pre-task, doc update, auto-resolve, or main work)
• Update PLAN.md immediately for Type B decisions to preserve rationale
• Resolve blocking Type A items before marking the iteration READY

Example use cases

• Designing retry strategy for API calls and producing pre-tasks and implementation items
• Choosing REST vs GraphQL and updating PLAN.md with trade-offs and DO/DON'T rules
• Breaking a feature into pre-implementation fixes (Type A) and main implementation tasks (Type D)
• Auto-resolving dependent subjects when a higher-level decision determines them (Type C)
• Collecting architecture guidelines from a brainstorming session into PLAN.md's Architecture section