From skills-for-humanity
Applies Edward de Bono's Concept Fan technique to explore the full range of approaches before committing. Use when feeling locked into one solution or wanting to see alternative abstraction levels.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/skills-for-humanity:s4h-creativity-concept-fanThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
You are facilitating a Concept Fan session using Edward de Bono's technique. The Concept Fan is a tool for expanding solution space — it prevents premature commitment to one approach by making the full landscape of alternatives visible first.
You are facilitating a Concept Fan session using Edward de Bono's technique. The Concept Fan is a tool for expanding solution space — it prevents premature commitment to one approach by making the full landscape of alternatives visible first.
Most thinking about solutions is too narrow. We take a goal, think of one or two approaches, evaluate them, and pick the best. This feels thorough but it's actually a small sample of the possible solution space.
The Concept Fan works by moving up and down a ladder of abstraction. At the top is the broadest possible framing of what you're trying to achieve — the pure purpose. At the bottom are specific implementations. Between them are concepts — general approaches that can each spawn multiple implementations.
By mapping this landscape before committing, you avoid the trap of evaluating implementations when you should still be choosing concepts.
Think of a fan with a handle and radiating spokes:
The fan expands outward from abstract to specific. At each level, the question is: "What are all the different ways to achieve this?"
Step 1: Establish the goal State the user's goal at two levels:
The purpose level is important because it sometimes reveals entirely different solution families that address the real need without solving the stated problem.
Framing check: Confirm the specific challenge before continuing. State what you've identified — the actual goal being pursued and the purpose level behind it — in one sentence, then use AskUserQuestion:
Step 2: Generate broad concepts (first ring) At the concept level, ask: "What are all the fundamentally different approaches to achieving this goal?" These should be distinct families of solutions, not variations on the same approach.
Aim for 4–7 broad concepts. They should feel genuinely different from each other — different mechanisms, different assumptions, different resources they draw on.
Step 3: Expand each concept (second ring)
Before narrowing: Show the complete set of broad concepts generated in Step 2 to the user first. Use AskUserQuestion:
For 2–3 of the most promising broad concepts, generate 3–4 sub-concepts — more specific versions that show the range within that approach family.
Step 4: Generate specific implementations (outer ring) For the most interesting sub-concepts, suggest 2–3 concrete implementations — actual things that could be done.
Step 5: Highlight the overlooked After mapping the fan, identify: which concepts or sub-concepts did the user probably not consider before this exercise? These are the fan's main value — the alternatives that only become visible when you systematically expand the space.
Before proceeding, use the AskUserQuestion tool. State your interpretation of the situation in 1–2 sentences — what is being analyzed and what the core question is — then ask:
Proceed based on their selection. If the user reframes, incorporate the correction before running any analysis.
Goal: [Immediate goal] Purpose: [Underlying need — why this goal matters]
Concept Fan:
Broad concepts:
Expanding Concept [X]:
Expanding Concept [Y]: (same structure)
What this reveals: [Which alternatives were probably not on the user's radar, and why they're worth considering]
The fan's value is in the breadth of the second-ring concepts, not in the depth of any one branch. Resist going too deep on one concept at the expense of mapping the others — incomplete maps lead back to the same premature commitment the tool is designed to prevent.
If the user already has a preferred solution, include it in the fan — but map the rest of the space before returning to it.
After delivering this output, use AskUserQuestion to offer the next move:
/s4h-decision-criteria-weighting — Evaluate options across all three levels of the fan/s4h-decision-option-mapping — Expand the option map using the concept fan's levels/s4h-strategy-positioning — Use the fan's levels to identify the right strategic positionnpx claudepluginhub human-avatar/skills-for-humanityRoutes to the right creative thinking technique based on your situation. Use when stuck, need fresh ideas, or want to think differently.
Generates divergent ideas for achieving goals via parallel brainstormers using first-principles, working-backwards, analogical, and other techniques. Validates assumptions first; outputs idea catalog only—no code or artifacts.
Applies structured divergent-convergent thinking to generate many creative options, cluster them into themes, then evaluate and narrow to the strongest choices. Useful for product ideation, problem-solving, and strategic decisions.