Design Thinking Prompt‑Driven Development (PDD) — Workspace Guide

This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). See the LICENSE file for details.

Design Thinking Cheat Sheet

• Switch to design thinking modes: Chat view → Mode → pick "Ideate" | "Plan" | "Execute" | "Document"
• Quick modes: "Concise" for rapid execution | "Research" for citations and synthesis
• Design thinking workflow: "Switch to Ideate and explore user needs" → "Switch to Plan for learning experiments" → "Switch to Execute for prototyping" → "Switch to Document for synthesis"

This repository includes a Design Thinking Prompt‑Driven Development (PDD) workflow with human-in-the-loop brainstorm-dev sessions powered by MCP and custom chatmodes. Use this README to run Ideate → Plan → Execute → Document with consistent, user-centered, repeatable steps.

What’s Included

• Design thinking chatmodes for human-in-the-loop brainstorm-dev sessions
  • dot_github/chatmodes/ideate.chatmode.md — user-centered problem exploration and solution concepts
  • dot_github/chatmodes/plan.chatmode.md — prototyping-focused planning for learning experiments
  • dot_github/chatmodes/execute.chatmode.md — experimentation and rapid prototyping
  • dot_github/chatmodes/document.chatmode.md — learning synthesis across design thinking sessions
• Specialized workflow chatmodes
  • dot_github/chatmodes/concise.chatmode.md — concise, precise execution mode
  • dot_github/chatmodes/research.chatmode.md — research/citations mode
• Supporting prompts for structured tasks
  • dot_github/prompts/execute.prompt.md
  • dot_github/prompts/document.prompt.md
• Global Copilot instructions
  • .github/copilot-instructions.md — MCP-first behavior, file conventions, and quick starters

IMPORTANT: This repository currently stores GitHub-specific files under a folder named dot_github/ to avoid accidental activation. To enable GitHub features (workflows, issue templates, CODEOWNERS, chat modes), rename the dot_github/ folder to .github/ in your local copy and push the change to your fork or repository root. Example:

mv dot_github .github git add -A git commit -m "chore: enable GitHub features by renaming dot_github to .github" git push origin main

Prerequisites

• VS Code with GitHub Copilot Chat enabled
• (Optional) MCP servers configured for:
  • SequentialThinking (stepwise reasoning)
  • Memory (persistent context)
  • GitHub (issues/PRs/repo context)

Folder Map

• pdd/prompts/ — prompt files you can run in chat
• pdd/ideate/ — ideation artifacts (YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md)
• pdd/plan/ — plans (YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>-plan.md)
• pdd/execute/ — per-task outputs (T-XXX-<slug>/README.md)
• pdd/.github/chatmodes/ — chat modes (*.chatmode.md)
• pdd/.github/copilot-instructions.md — global operating instructions

Quick Start

1. Ideate (produce a concept brief)
   • Chat: “Switch to Ideate and explore user needs for .”
   • Output: pdd/ideate/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
2. Plan (convert ideation → executable plan)
   • Mode: Switch to Plan (or reference .github/chatmodes/plan.chatmode.md)
   • Chat: “Switch to Plan and convert ideation into learning experiments.”
   • Output: pdd/plan/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>-plan.md
3. Execute (task-by-task)
   • Mode: Switch to Concise
   • Chat: “Switch to Execute and run the next prototype experiment.”
   • Output: pdd/execute/T-XXX-<slug>/README.md + plan updates
4. Document (reconcile and summarize)
   • Chat: “Switch to Document and synthesize session insights.”
   • Output: pdd/execute/documentation-summary-YYYY-MM-DD.md + updated plan

Chat Modes

Concise (execution-focused)

• File: .github/chatmodes/concise.chatmode.md
• Use when: grooming, clarifying scope, executing single tasks, making small changes
• Behavior: ≤ 10 lines, next action first, 3–7 TODOs with one in-progress, concrete paths, PASS/FAIL validation
• Starter: “Switch to Concise and refine this request; execute the first todo.”

Plan (read-first planning)

• File: .github/chatmodes/plan.chatmode.md
• Use when: converting ideation into a plan; ordering, risks, WBS; no code edits
• Behavior: single plan output, tasks sized 30–120 min, critical path and risks, optional GitHub scaffolding
• Starter: “Switch to Plan and convert the latest ideation artifact into a plan file per the template.”

Research (citations + synthesis)

• File: .github/chatmodes/research.chatmode.md
• Use when: exploring tech or gathering information with citations; read-first
• Behavior: 3–6 sources, 5–10 key findings, 3–7 actionable next steps
• Starter: “Switch to Research and summarize options with citations; propose next steps aligned to PDD.”

Prompts (Supporting Files)

• Execute: dot_github/prompts/execute.prompt.md
  • Produces: per-task artifacts under pdd/execute/T-XXX-<slug>/ and updates plan statuses
  • Verifies: acceptance criteria + quality gates (build/lint/tests)
• Document: dot_github/prompts/document.prompt.md
  • Produces: pdd/execute/documentation-summary-YYYY-MM-DD.md + updated plan linking artifacts

File Conventions

• Ideation: pdd/ideate/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md
• Plan: pdd/plan/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>-plan.md
• Execute (per task): pdd/execute/T-XXX-<slug>/README.md
• Doc summary: pdd/execute/documentation-summary-YYYY-MM-DD.md
• Slugs: kebab-case; Tasks: zero-padded (T-001); Dates: ISO

MCP Usage (Always)

• Use SequentialThinking to structure reasoning; keep steps visible/concise.
• Persist decisions and artifact paths to Memory.
• Use GitHub for repo context and to propose issues/labels/milestones when relevant.

Example Runs

• Start Concise for a small change:
  • “Switch to Concise and refine this request; execute the first todo.”
• Generate Plan from Ideation:
  • “Switch to Plan and convert the latest ideation artifact into a plan file per the template.”
• Research options:
  • “Switch to Research and summarize options with citations; propose next steps aligned to PDD.”

Troubleshooting

• Mode not found in the picker?
  • Ensure the file exists under pdd/.github/chatmodes/*.chatmode.md and reload VS Code.
• Duplicate artifacts?
  • Keep one primary artifact per phase run; clean up or archive old drafts.
• Tooling not applicable?
  • Adjust validation commands (build/lint/tests) to your project; keep acceptance criteria explicit.

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For global guardrails and quick starters, see .github/copilot-instructions.md.