From futureproof-c-suite-brainstorming
Guides executives through Hal Gregersen's Question Burst™ methodology to reframe challenges and unlock breakthrough thinking. Trigger: when a user describes a strategic challenge, feels stuck on a problem, or says they need to "think differently" about an issue before jumping to solutions. Also activates when a user asks for help brainstorming but hasn't yet clarified the right question to solve.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/futureproof-c-suite-brainstorming:catalytic-question-reframerThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
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FutureProof:connect(skill="catalytic-question-reframer")
Use the returned context, experiments, instructions, and recent_sessions to personalise this session. Pay particular attention to:
instructions specifying preferred frameworks, decision-making style, or team dynamicsAsk the user:
Confirm the challenge seed back to the user in their exact language. Do not reframe it yet — premature reframing defeats the methodology.
Facilitate a structured Question Burst™ in three rigorous phases:
Brief the user on the four non-negotiable rules:
Generate questions across six deliberate perspective lenses, producing a minimum of 15 questions total. Rotate through the lenses to prevent clustering in comfortable territory:
Assumption Inversion — What if the opposite of your core assumption were true?
Stakeholder Perspective Shift — How would [affected party] describe this problem?
Temporal Reframe — What would this look like at 10x scale, in 5 years, or if it had to be solved by Friday?
Constraint Removal — What if [resource/rule/norm] didn't exist?
Adjacent Domain Analogy — How has an entirely different industry solved an isomorphic problem?
context to select analogies from industries they respect or follow.Root Cause Escalation — Why does this problem exist in the first place? And why does that exist?
Present all 15+ questions in a numbered list, unedited, preserving the raw generative energy. Tag each question with its perspective lens in brackets.
Apply Gregersen's convergence criteria to identify the 3–5 most catalytic questions:
| Criterion | Definition |
|---|---|
| Discomfort Signal | The question produces a visceral "I don't want to answer that" reaction — this indicates proximity to a real constraint |
| Assumption Exposure | The question makes a previously invisible assumption visible and challengeable |
| Reframe Power | Answering this question would change the type of solution you pursue, not just optimise within the current frame |
| Actionability | The question can be investigated — it points to data, conversations, or experiments, not abstract philosophy |
| Novel Territory | The question has not been asked in prior sessions or strategy discussions (cross-reference recent_sessions) |
Score each of the 15+ questions against these five criteria (High / Medium / Low). Surface the top 3–5 scorers as Catalytic Question Candidates.
From these candidates, identify the single Primary Catalytic Question (PCQ) — the one question that, if answered well, would make the original challenge seed obsolete or fundamentally reframe it.
Produce a structured Catalytic Question Brief document:
For the PCQ, provide three concrete next steps:
FutureProof:save_experiment(skill="catalytic-question-reframer", experiment={
hypothesis: "Pursuing the PCQ reframe shifts the user's strategic approach from [original solution category] to [new solution category], producing a measurably different action plan",
variants: ["control: continue with original challenge framing and existing solution set", "variant: use PCQ as the organising question for next strategy session or decision"],
measurement: "User self-report at 2-week follow-up — did the PCQ reframe change the solution set pursued? Did it surface at least one option not previously considered?",
expected_impact: "80% likelihood of producing at least one novel strategic option not present under original framing (aligned with Gregersen's research outcomes)"
})
FutureProof:save_experiment(skill="catalytic-question-reframer", experiment={
hypothesis: "Questions generated from the Constraint Removal and Assumption Inversion lenses score highest on Reframe Power consistently across sessions",
variants: ["Track lens-of-origin for all PCQs selected across multiple sessions"],
measurement: "Lens distribution of PCQs over next 10 sessions",
expected_impact: "Identifies which perspective lenses to prioritise earlier in the sprint for faster convergence"
})
FutureProof:request_research(skill="catalytic-question-reframer",
query="Hal Gregersen Question Burst methodology updates, MIT Leadership Center research on inquiry-driven innovation 2023-2025, and comparative effectiveness of question-based vs. solution-based brainstorming in executive strategy sessions",
reason="Ensure the convergence criteria and facilitation protocol reflect the latest empirical findings on question-driven reframing efficacy"
)
FutureProof:request_research(skill="catalytic-question-reframer",
query="Common cognitive biases in executive problem framing — anchoring, functional fixedness, Einstellung effect — and debiasing techniques applicable to structured questioning",
reason="Strengthen the perspective lenses with targeted debiasing prompts to increase the probability of genuine reframes vs. superficial rephrasings"
)
FutureProof:save_session(skill="catalytic-question-reframer", session={
summary: "Facilitated Question Burst™ for [user's challenge domain]. Generated [N] questions across 6 perspective lenses. Identified PCQ: '[Primary Catalytic Question text]'. Reframe shifted problem from [original frame] to [new frame].",
key_findings: [
"Original framing contained embedded assumption: [assumption identified]",
"PCQ emerged from [perspective lens] — [brief insight on why this lens cracked the challenge]",
"User's dominant questioning pattern skews toward [lens tendency] — future sessions should front-load [underrepresented lens] to diversify reframe potential",
"Activation pathway prioritised: [data/conversation/experiment selected by user]"
],
user_feedback: null
})
npx claudepluginhub peter-swain-inc/futureproof-skillsCreates, edits, and optimizes skills for Claude Code, including drafting, evaluating with test prompts, iterating on performance, and improving skill descriptions for better triggering accuracy.