Ideation Skill

Read .hackathon/STATE.md first. If the current phase is before "ideate", warn that init hasn't run.
If IDEA.md already has content, treat this as refinement rather than greenfield brainstorming.

The Ideation Framework

Walk through these steps. Don't rush — this is the most important 30 minutes of the hackathon.

Step 1: Problem First

Ask and answer clearly:

• What specific problem does this solve?
• Who has this problem? (Be specific — "Sezzle support agents" not "users")
• How painful is this problem today? (Daily annoyance vs. rare inconvenience)
• What's the current workaround? (If none exists, is the problem real?)

If evaluating multiple ideas, do this for each one, then compare.

Step 2: The Demo Test

This is the most important step. Before thinking about solutions:

Describe the 2-minute demo. What does the audience see? What's the "wow" moment? Walk through it beat by beat:

1. "We open the app and you see..."
2. "We click/type/upload..."
3. "And then watch as..."
4. "The result is..."

If you can't describe a compelling demo in 4 beats, the idea needs reshaping.

Write this into DEMO-SCRIPT.md as v0.1 — it will evolve, but it starts now.

Step 3: Solution Framing

Now think about the solution:

• What's the simplest version that delivers the demo? (This is your MVP)
• What's the "if we have time" version? (Nice-to-haves)
• What would make judges say "I want to use this"?
• What's the metric this connects to? (Hackathon requirement: must connect to a tracked metric)

Step 4: AI Integration Check

The hackathon requires AI integration. Define:

• Where does AI add value that a traditional approach can't?
• Which AI capabilities? (NLP, vision/OCR, generation, classification, agents)
• What model/API? (Claude API, OpenAI, open-source, specialized)
• Is AI in the product experience? (Bonus points per hackathon rules)

Step 5: Scope Gut-Check

Before writing anything up:

• Can 2 developers build an MVP of this in ~10 hours of coding? (accounting for agentic coding speed)
• What's the riskiest technical unknown?
• What can be faked/mocked vs. what must be real?

Output

Write the refined idea to .hackathon/IDEA.md with this structure:

---
owner: [pm-name or whoever led ideation]
status: draft
created-at: [timestamp]
last-modified: [timestamp]
phase: ideate
---

# [Project Name]

## Problem
[2-3 sentences]

## Who It's For
[Specific audience]

## Solution
[2-3 sentences on the approach]

## Demo Script (v0.1)
[The 4-beat demo from Step 2]

## AI Integration
[What AI does and why it matters]

## MVP Scope (Must Have)
- [Feature 1]
- [Feature 2]
- [Feature 3]

## Nice-to-Have (If Time)
- [Feature A]
- [Feature B]

## Connected Metric
[Which Sezzle metric this connects to and how]

## Open Questions
- [Anything unresolved]

Update STATE.md: set ideate.status to "complete", remove "ideate" from active-phases, add "mockup" to active-phases.
Log to log/changelog.md.

Remind the team: "The idea is in draft — it will be refined after mockups and feasibility. Nothing is locked yet."