Ideation Skills: Spark, Flame, Forge

Three Skills, One Flow

Ideation Flow has a single orchestrator agent that routes between three skills based on session state. Each skill can also be invoked directly.

Spark Skill

Goal: Generate genuinely diverse, surprising ideas through rapid batches with maximum divergence.

How It Works

Before every batch, Spark executes a 6-step deep thinking chain:

Step	Name	What Happens
Think 1	Domain Check	Which domains haven’t been used yet this session?
Think 2	Raw Concepts	Generate 10–15 unfiltered raw concepts
Think 3	Novelty Filter	Remove ideas that are obvious or already covered
Think 4	Cross-Pollinate	Combine concepts from different domains
Think 5	Provocation	If due (every 15 ideas), force a deliberate provocation
Think 6	Polish	Refine to 5 ideas with clear technique tags

Deep thinking is collapsed by default. You see the final 5 ideas, not the reasoning chain. Set visibility to visible in memory-bank.yaml if you want to watch the reasoning.

Anti-Bias Engine

The 12-domain wheel enforces cognitive diversity across every session:

Technology / Engineering

Human Psychology / Behavior

Business / Economics

Nature / Biology

Art / Design / Aesthetics

Games / Play

Social / Community

Physical Space / Architecture

Time / Temporal

Extreme / Edge Cases

Inversion / Opposite

Random Cross-Pollination

Diversity rules enforced per batch:

Minimum 3 different domains in every batch of 5
No consecutive ideas from the same domain
Session-level tracking prevents clustering around familiar themes

Provocation cadence:

Every 15 ideas: a deliberate provocation (Inversion, Exaggeration, Elimination, Time Shift, Stakeholder Swap, or Random)
Every 20 ideas: a full perspective shift to a distant domain

Configuration (`memory-bank.yaml`)

spark:
  batch_size: 5          # Ideas per batch
  target_count: 50       # Suggested convergence threshold
  max_batches: 20        # Safety limit

anti_bias:
  domain_diversity_min: 3       # Minimum domains per batch
  provocation_frequency: 15     # Provocation every N ideas
  perspective_shift_frequency: 20

deep_thinking:
  prefer_mcp: true              # Use Sequential Thinking MCP if available
  fallback: built-in
  steps_per_batch: 6
  visibility: collapsed         # visible | collapsed | hidden

Spark Bank Output

The Spark Bank is a structured markdown document grouping all ideas by theme, with favorites highlighted:

# Spark Bank: Developer Onboarding

## Summary
- Total ideas: 47
- Favorites: 8
- Domains covered: 9/12

## Theme: Friction Reduction
⭐ **Contextual Code Sandbox** — Runnable snippets in docs, pre-loaded with your API keys in a safe scope. *via First Principles*
**Onboarding Sprint** — Full setup compressed into one pair-programming session. *via Exaggeration*

## Theme: Knowledge Transfer
⭐ **Buddy Bot Assignment** — Slack bot that surfaces relevant internal docs as the new hire encounters gaps. *via Analogy*
...

Flame Skill

Goal: Evaluate ideas fairly through multiple perspectives—surface hidden value, expose real risks, produce a ranked shortlist.

Six Hats Analysis

For each idea, Flame runs all five objective hats automatically (no interruption), then explicitly elicits the Red Hat from you:

Hat	Color	Lens
White	Facts	What data exists? What don’t we know?
Yellow	Optimism	What’s the best case? Why could this succeed?
Black	Caution	What could fail? What are the real obstacles?
Green	Creativity	What variations exist? What else could we do?
Blue	Process	What’s the implementation path? What comes first?
Red (you)	Intuition	Your gut feeling — no justification required

Red Hat is a deliberate pause. Before producing the shortlist, Flame asks for your gut reaction on each idea. This captures organizational knowledge, personal context, and instinct that the objective hats can’t surface.

Scoring

After the Six Hats analysis, each idea is scored:

Axis	Scale	What It Measures
Impact	1–5	Potential value if it works
Feasibility	1–5	Realistic chance of execution

Ideas are plotted on a 2×2 matrix (Impact × Feasibility). The shortlist (3–5 ideas) defaults to the upper-right quadrant, adjusted by your Red Hat input.

Configuration

flame:
  default_method: six-hats-rapid
  shortlist_size: 5

Flame Report Output

# Flame Report: Developer Onboarding

## Evaluations

### Contextual Code Sandbox
- **White**: No direct competitor data; internal tooling exists
- **Yellow**: Eliminates "it works on my machine" problem permanently
- **Black**: API key management complexity; security review needed
- **Green**: Could extend to full environment snapshots
- **Blue**: Phase 1: static sandbox → Phase 2: live environment
- **Red** *(your input)*: "Strong gut feel — this is the one"
- **Score**: Impact 5, Feasibility 3

## Scoring Matrix
[2×2 matrix: Impact × Feasibility]

## Shortlist (Top 5)
1. Contextual Code Sandbox (I:5, F:3) ← your Red Hat favorite
2. Buddy Bot Assignment (I:4, F:4)
...

Forge Skill

Goal: Develop shortlisted ideas into polished, actionable Concept Briefs using the Disney Creative Strategy.

Disney Creative Strategy

Robert Dilts’ model separates three distinct thinking modes that must not mix:

Passes must not mix. The Dreamer phase has no constraints—introducing feasibility concerns here kills creative thinking. The Realist phase grounds the vision—don’t critique here. The Critic phase is where stress-testing happens.

Pass Details

Dreamer Pass (80% AI / 20% you) Expand the vision without limits. What is the best possible version of this idea?

Full concept description
User value proposition
Differentiation angle
The “dream” experience

Realist Pass (60% AI / 40% you) Ground the vision in reality. What does v1 actually look like?

Technology choices
Implementation phases (v1, v2, v3)
Team and time requirements
Integration points

Critic Pass (40% AI / 60% you) Stress-test the concept. This is where your organizational context matters most.

Risks ranked by severity (Critical / High / Medium / Low)
Mitigations for each risk
Known organizational constraints
“What would make this fail?”

You are most involved in the Critic pass. The AI surfaces generic risks; you add the real organizational blockers, political constraints, and hidden dependencies that only you know about.

Configuration

forge:
  default_method: disney-strategy
  include_pitch: true
  include_risks: true

Concept Brief Output

# Concept Brief: Contextual Code Sandbox

## Vision (Dreamer)
A fully-functional development environment embedded in documentation.
New hires run real code against real APIs on day one—no local setup required.
The "first day works" experience becomes the default, not the exception.

## Implementation Plan (Realist)
**Phase 1 (2 weeks)**: Static sandbox with pre-loaded API credentials in isolated scope
**Phase 2 (4 weeks)**: Full environment snapshots tied to specific onboarding paths
**Phase 3 (ongoing)**: Self-updating sandboxes that mirror production changes

Tech: WebContainers (StackBlitz), credential vault integration, Markdown MDX

## Risk Assessment (Critic)
| Risk | Severity | Mitigation |
|------|----------|-----------|
| Security review for credential scoping | Critical | Dedicated security review sprint before Phase 1 |
| Engineering buy-in for maintenance | High | Async RFC + demo with early adopters |
| Browser compatibility for WebContainers | Medium | Fallback to static code blocks with copy button |

Session State

All session data is persisted in session.yaml:

session:
  id: developer-onboarding-20260528
  topic: "Reduce developer onboarding from 2 weeks to 2 days"
  created: 2026-05-28T09:00:00Z
  updated: 2026-05-28T14:30:00Z
  phase: forge

spark:
  batches_generated: 9
  total_ideas: 47
  favorites: [S1-1, S2-3, S4-2, S5-1, S6-4, S7-2, S8-1, S8-5]
  domains_used: [Technology, Psychology, Business, Nature, Games, Social, Space, Inversion]
  domains_remaining: [Art, Time, Extreme, Random]

flame:
  ideas_evaluated: 12
  shortlist: [S1-1, S2-3, S4-2, S5-1, S7-2]
  scoring_method: six-hats-rapid

forge:
  concepts_shaped: 2
  briefs_generated: [contextual-code-sandbox.md, buddy-bot-assignment.md]

Interaction Adaptation

The AI adjusts its interaction style based on the current skill phase:

Phase	Generate	Elicit	Co-Build
Spark	80%	5%	15%
Flame	60%	15%	25%
Forge	40%	20%	40%

Override signals:

"you decide" → shifts toward more generation
"ask me" → shifts toward more elicitation

Hard rule: Never more than 2 questions before generating output. Flow never stalls.

Getting Started

Framework

Ideation Flow

FIRE Flow

AI-DLC Flow

Simple Flow

Compare

Resources

Ideation Skills: Spark, Flame, Forge

Three Skills, One Flow

Spark Skill

How It Works

Anti-Bias Engine

Technology / Engineering

Human Psychology / Behavior

Business / Economics

Nature / Biology

Art / Design / Aesthetics

Games / Play

Social / Community

Physical Space / Architecture

Time / Temporal

Extreme / Edge Cases

Inversion / Opposite

Random Cross-Pollination

Configuration (`memory-bank.yaml`)

Spark Bank Output

Flame Skill

Six Hats Analysis

Scoring

Configuration

Flame Report Output

Forge Skill

Disney Creative Strategy

Pass Details

Configuration

Concept Brief Output

Session State

Interaction Adaptation

​Three Skills, One Flow

​Spark Skill

​How It Works

​Anti-Bias Engine

Technology / Engineering

Human Psychology / Behavior

Business / Economics

Nature / Biology

Art / Design / Aesthetics

Games / Play

Social / Community

Physical Space / Architecture

Time / Temporal

Extreme / Edge Cases

Inversion / Opposite

Random Cross-Pollination

​Configuration (memory-bank.yaml)

​Spark Bank Output

​Flame Skill

​Six Hats Analysis

​Scoring

​Configuration

​Flame Report Output

​Forge Skill

​Disney Creative Strategy

​Pass Details

​Configuration

​Concept Brief Output

​Session State

​Interaction Adaptation

Three Skills, One Flow

Spark Skill

How It Works

Anti-Bias Engine

Configuration (`memory-bank.yaml`)

Spark Bank Output

Flame Skill

Six Hats Analysis

Scoring

Configuration

Flame Report Output

Forge Skill

Disney Creative Strategy

Pass Details

Configuration

Concept Brief Output

Session State

Interaction Adaptation