Explore Options

---
name: explore-options
description: Use to generate multiple candidate product shapes before the discovery loop converges on one — the divergence stage that guards against myopic-greedy commitment. Triggers on "give me candidate product shapes", "diverge on the product shape", "what are the options before we commit", "explore alternatives for X", "don't converge yet". Generates N candidates across altitude × mechanic, each with its riskiest assumption, then frames an explicit compare-and-choose. Do NOT use to break down a chosen approach (use `decompose-intent`), to critique one produced artifact (use `devils-advocate`), or to converge (that is the discovery loop's job).
---

# Skill: explore-options

**Generate multiple candidate product shapes *before* the loop commits to one.**
This is the discovery loop's **divergence** stage (pre-G1.5), and it exists because
every other phase of the gate ladder is *convergent* — left alone the loop locks
onto the first coherent framing and commits early (**myopic-greedy commitment**,
the loop's headline risk). The Double Diamond and Design Sprint treat forced
divergence as non-optional; this skill is that forcing function.

It is **prompt-only** (CHARTER Principle 3): no engine, no scorer, no candidate
generator script — the agent following this body writes the candidates as
blackboard slots. **No new agent, no new reviewer.**

## Output rendering

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Make the result stand alone. Do needed arithmetic, give real dates or times, and say what a file or link establishes instead of making the reader inspect it.
For code and comments, prefer obvious structure and names. Comment on intent, constraints, or trade-offs that the code cannot state clearly.
Use a table, tree, flow, or other visual only when it makes a relationship materially easier to understand.
Report the current state, not the path taken. Omit dead ends, resolved trade-offs, hedges, and advice the user did not request.
When editing maintained prose, consolidate repeated rules and navigation before adding another caveat.
Silence and brevity never reduce the work, checks, or requested coverage. Preserve depth, evidence, constraints, warnings, code, diffs, errors, and exact names, paths, and counts.
Keep verification compact: pass or fail, count, and runtime. Name a suite when it failed or when the name changes what the reader should do.
Before sending, check that the reader can act without counting, converting, opening a file, or asking what a line means.
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Key–value / one record — For a single record's fields, use an aligned key: value list, not a two-row table.

## When to invoke

1. There is a **framed intent** to diverge on (from `frame-intent`) — you are
   generating *solution shapes* for a stated outcome, not shaping the outcome
   itself.
2. The loop has **not yet converged** — divergence runs before G1.5. If the team
   already committed and wants to *re-open*, that is the `explore-alternatives`
   verdict routing back here.
3. You want **breadth, not a single answer.** If the shape is genuinely obvious and
   the appetite is tiny, say so — manufacturing five candidates for a one-shape
   problem is waste.

## The two axes

Generate **N candidate shapes (4–5 is the useful range)** across two axes — this is
what stops the candidates from being trivial variations of one idea:

- **Altitude** — narrow-slice ↔ whole-domain. The myopic default picks the narrow
  slice (a kitchen "draft-and-approve" assistant); force the **higher altitude**
  (the whole household — calendar, travel, vendors, budget) *and* the **deeper
  sub-domain** (meal → recipe → ingredient → store sourcing).
- **Mechanic** — the interaction model: `draft-and-approve` / `coordination-layer`
  / `knowledge-graph-first` / `ambient-capture` (illustrative, not closed). The
  same outcome under a different mechanic is a different product.

## Procedure

1. **Generate the candidate set.** For each candidate, write a blackboard
   `intent`-variant slot under the `diverging` parent (the plan-tree's `candidates`
   array — see the discovery-loop asset). Each candidate carries:
   - `altitude` and `mechanic` (where it sits on the two axes);
   - a one-line **shape** (what the product *is* under this framing);
   - its **riskiest assumption** — the one that, if wrong, sinks it (front it with
     *what would have to be true*).
2. **Reuse, don't reinvent.** Pressure and rank with the skills that already exist —
   you are *generating*; they *select* and *stress*:
   - `compare-hypotheses`' ACH matrix to **select** among the shapes;
   - `devils-advocate` to **pressure** each candidate;
   - `de-risk-intent` to **risk** the chosen one (and to seed each candidate's
     riskiest assumption);
   - the discovery loop's **scenario-variation** self-coverage module to widen the
     set along persona / state / scale / adversarial edges.
3. **Frame an explicit compare-and-choose.** Divergence ends in a *selection*, not a
   pile. Recommend one shape and say why, but **retain the not-chosen as `rejected`
   / `parked` with rationale** — never deleted, so they stay revivable (the loop's
   persistence + `decision-archaeology`'s revival check). The **altitude bet is a
   value/scope call — surface it at G1.5**, do not resolve it silently.

## What you write

The candidate set + the selection on the plan-tree node (the discovery loop's
[`plan-tree` asset](../discovery-loop/assets/plan-tree.md) `candidates` +
`selection`). A candidate slot:

```
- id: cand.<slug>
  altitude: narrow-slice | whole-domain | <a point between>
  mechanic: draft-and-approve | coordination-layer | knowledge-graph-first | ambient-capture | <other>
  shape: <one line — what the product is under this framing>
  riskiest_assumption: <what would have to be true>
  status: selected | rejected | parked
  rationale: <why selected / retained-not-chosen>
```

## Anti-patterns to refuse

- **Generating trivial variations of one idea.** If every candidate sits at the
  same altitude with the same mechanic, you diverged on the label, not the shape.
  Span both axes.
- **Deleting the not-chosen.** Retain rejected/parked candidates with rationale —
  they are revivable, and deleting them re-creates the myopic commitment divergence
  exists to prevent.
- **Resolving the altitude bet silently.** Altitude is a value/scope call — surface
  it at G1.5, with the candidates as the referent.
- **Re-implementing selection or critique.** Reuse `compare-hypotheses` /
  `devils-advocate` / `de-risk-intent`; this skill *generates*.
- **Building a generator engine.** Prompt-only — the agent writes the candidates;
  there is no scorer or candidate-synthesis script.