concept-fan

Business

Expand from purpose to concepts to directions to ideas (de Bono Concept Fan)

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/yogsoth-ai/de-anthropocentric-research-engine/blob/HEAD/skills/concept-fan/SKILL.md

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Concept Fan

Expand thinking from purpose through concepts to directions to ideas using de Bono's Concept Fan technique. Move between levels of abstraction to find new approaches.

State Ledger

Resource	Target	%
web-search	20	0%
web-research	8	0%
paper-overview	20	0%
paper-search	12	0%
paper-research	5	0%

HARD-GATE

Cannot exit strategy until ≥80% of each budget line is consumed OR yield targets are met with justification for remaining budget.

Available Tactics

Tactic	Role
concept-hierarchy	Build concept levels from purpose through concepts to ideas

Available SOPs

SOP	Role
concept-fan-expansion	Expand fan from purpose → concepts → directions → ideas
escape-technique	Escape dominant concept to find alternative concepts
fractionation	Split broad concepts into finer units
alternatives-generation	Generate alternative ideas at each level
lateral-synthesis	Synthesize concept fan outputs

Execution Guidance

Define purpose: Clarify the ultimate purpose (rightmost point of fan)
Identify concepts: Find broad approaches that serve the purpose
Generate directions: For each concept, identify specific directions
Produce ideas: For each direction, generate concrete ideas
Escape and expand: Use escape-technique if stuck at any level
Synthesize: Produce structured output via lateral-synthesis

Available Tactics

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

Tactic	When to use
concept-hierarchy	Build concept levels from purpose through concepts to ideas, with escape and fractionation at each level.

Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

SOP	When to use
alternatives-generation	Generate alternatives for every known approach — ensure no approach goes unchallenged.
concept-fan-expansion	Expand concept fan from purpose through concepts to directions to ideas (de Bono Concept Fan).
escape-technique	Identify dominant thinking pattern and escape it via deliberate pattern-breaking.
fractionation	Split concepts into smaller units and recombine them differently to produce novel structures.
lateral-synthesis	Synthesize all lateral thinking intermediate outputs into a structured idea report.