cfa0f8f942
- basecamp: Basecamp project management via MCP (todos, kanban, projects) - brainstorming: General-purpose ideation with Anytype save - plan-writing: Project planning with templates (kickoff, stakeholders, tasks, risks) - Update agent model from GPT-4o to minimax-m2.1-free - Update README with new skills
152 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
152 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
# Thinking Frameworks
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Use these when structured analysis adds value. Not every brainstorm needs a framework.
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## Pros/Cons Analysis
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**Best for**: Binary decisions (do X or not, choose A or B)
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| Option | Pros | Cons |
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|--------|------|------|
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| Option A | + Advantage 1 | - Disadvantage 1 |
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| | + Advantage 2 | - Disadvantage 2 |
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| Option B | + Advantage 1 | - Disadvantage 1 |
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| | + Advantage 2 | - Disadvantage 2 |
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**Tips**:
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- Weight factors by importance if not all equal
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- Consider: Which cons are dealbreakers?
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- Ask: What would make each option clearly better?
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## SWOT Analysis
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**Best for**: Strategic assessment of a situation, project, or decision
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| | Helpful | Harmful |
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|----------|---------|---------|
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| **Internal** | **Strengths** | **Weaknesses** |
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| | What advantages do we have? | What could we improve? |
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| | What do we do well? | Where do we lack resources? |
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| **External** | **Opportunities** | **Threats** |
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| | What trends could we exploit? | What obstacles exist? |
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| | What gaps can we fill? | What is competition doing? |
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**Action mapping**:
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- Build on strengths
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- Address or mitigate weaknesses
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- Capture opportunities
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- Defend against threats
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## 5 Whys
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**Best for**: Finding root cause of a problem
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**Process**:
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1. **State the problem**: [What's happening?]
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2. **Why?** → [First answer]
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3. **Why?** → [Dig deeper]
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4. **Why?** → [Keep going]
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5. **Why?** → [Getting closer]
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6. **Why?** → [Root cause]
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**Tips**:
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- Stop when you reach something actionable
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- May take fewer or more than 5 iterations
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- Multiple branches possible (multiple "whys" at each level)
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**Example**:
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```
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Problem: Course launch didn't meet enrollment targets
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Why? → Not enough people saw the launch
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Why? → Email list is small
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Why? → Haven't been building audience consistently
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Why? → No content publishing schedule
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Why? → Haven't prioritized content creation
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→ Root cause: Need to establish content rhythm before next launch
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```
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## How-Now-Wow Matrix
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**Best for**: Prioritizing many ideas by feasibility and innovation
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| | Hard to Implement | Easy to Implement |
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|--------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
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| **Innovative** | HOW (future investment) | WOW (prioritize these!) |
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| **Conventional** | Why bother? | NOW (quick wins) |
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**Quadrant actions**:
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- **WOW**: Innovative + Easy = Do these first, high impact
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- **NOW**: Conventional + Easy = Quick wins, do soon
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- **HOW**: Innovative + Hard = Save for later, plan carefully
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- **Why bother?**: Conventional + Hard = Probably skip
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## Starbursting (6 Questions)
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**Best for**: Comprehensive exploration of an idea or decision
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Start with the idea in the center, then explore each question branch:
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### Who?
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- Who is affected?
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- Who will execute?
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- Who decides?
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- Who are stakeholders?
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### What?
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- What exactly are we doing?
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- What's the scope?
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- What's the deliverable?
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- What resources needed?
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### When?
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- When does it start?
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- When are milestones?
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- When is the deadline?
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- When do we review?
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### Where?
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- Where does this happen?
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- Where are resources?
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- Where will it be deployed/shared?
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### Why?
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- Why are we doing this?
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- Why now?
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- Why this approach?
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- Why does it matter?
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### How?
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- How will we execute?
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- How will we measure success?
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- How do we handle failures?
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- How do we communicate progress?
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## Constraint Mapping
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**Best for**: Understanding boundaries before generating solutions
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| Category | Constraints | Flexible? |
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|----------|-------------|-----------|
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| **Time** | Deadline, available hours | |
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| **Budget** | Money available, cost limits | |
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| **Resources** | People, skills, tools | |
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| **Technical** | Platform, compatibility, performance | |
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| **External** | Regulations, dependencies, stakeholders | |
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| **Preferences** | Must-haves, nice-to-haves | |
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**For each constraint, note**:
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- Is it truly fixed or negotiable?
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- What would change if we relaxed it?
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- Are there creative workarounds?
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## When NOT to Use Frameworks
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Skip frameworks when:
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- The decision is simple or obvious
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- Conversational exploration is working well
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- Time is very limited
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- The user just needs to talk through it
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**Default to conversation.** Suggest frameworks only when they'd genuinely help structure complex thinking.
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