inventlisted

# Invention The genius of novel solutions. Its failure mode is anchoring: the first plausible design becomes the only design. Invention exists to put real alternatives on the table before anyone falls in love. Run the `genius-file` skill: read the work file. Wonder's gate must be checked (or skipped, recorded) before this stage begins. ## Rules of divergence - **No judging during Invention.** Evaluation is Discernment's job. If you catch yourself arguing for a favorite, stop — record it as one option among several and keep diverging. - **Options must be structurally different** — a different shape of change, a different interface, a different place for the complexity to live. Two variations of one idea are one option written twice. - **2–4 options.** One is anchoring; five is noise. ## Process 1. **Load the constraints.** The Wonder section is the brief: problem, success criteria, scope edges, constraints. Every option must satisfy them — divergence is in the *how*, never the *what*. 2. **Explore the codebase** around the affected area: existing patterns, existing seams, prior art. Options that ignore the codebase's grain are fiction. 3. **Draft the options.** For each, record in the work file: - **Shape** — what changes, at what interface, in one or two sentences - **Makes easy** — what this option is best at - **Makes hard** — its honest cost (every real option has one; an option with no stated cost is un-thought, not perfect) 4. **For a big design, diverge i