BMAD-METHOD/src/core-skills/bmad-advanced-elicitation/methods.csv

1	num	category	method_name	description	output_pattern
2	1	advanced	Tree of Thoughts	Explore multiple reasoning paths simultaneously then evaluate and select the best - perfect for complex problems with multiple valid approaches	paths → evaluation → selection
3	2	advanced	Graph of Thoughts	Model reasoning as an interconnected network of ideas to reveal hidden relationships - ideal for systems thinking and discovering emergent patterns	nodes → connections → patterns
4	3	advanced	Thread of Thought	Maintain coherent reasoning across long contexts by weaving a continuous narrative thread - essential for RAG systems and maintaining consistency	context → thread → synthesis
5	4	advanced	Self-Consistency Validation	Generate multiple independent approaches then compare for consistency - crucial for high-stakes decisions where verification matters	approaches → comparison → consensus
6	5	advanced	Meta-Prompting Analysis	Step back to analyze the approach structure and methodology itself - valuable for optimizing prompts and improving problem-solving	current → analysis → optimization
7	6	advanced	Reasoning via Planning	Build a reasoning tree guided by world models and goal states - excellent for strategic planning and sequential decision-making	model → planning → strategy
8	7	advanced	Chain-of-Thought Scaffolding	Force explicit intermediate reasoning steps before any conclusion — prevents intuitive leaps that skip flawed logic	premise → step → step → conclusion
9	8	advanced	Few-Shot Exemplar Priming	Provide 2-3 worked examples of the desired reasoning pattern before the real task — aligns output format and depth through demonstration	examples → pattern recognition → application
10	9	collaboration	Stakeholder Round Table	Convene multiple personas to contribute diverse perspectives - essential for requirements gathering and finding balanced solutions across competing interests	perspectives → synthesis → alignment
11	10	collaboration	Expert Panel Review	Assemble domain experts for deep specialized analysis - ideal when technical depth and peer review quality are needed	expert views → consensus → recommendations
12	11	collaboration	Debate Club Showdown	Two personas argue opposing positions while a moderator scores points - great for exploring controversial decisions and finding middle ground	thesis → antithesis → synthesis
13	12	collaboration	User Persona Focus Group	Gather your product's user personas to react to proposals and share frustrations - essential for validating features and discovering unmet needs	reactions → concerns → priorities
14	13	collaboration	Time Traveler Council	Past-you and future-you advise present-you on decisions - powerful for gaining perspective on long-term consequences vs short-term pressures	past wisdom → present choice → future impact
15	14	collaboration	Cross-Functional War Room	Product manager + engineer + designer tackle a problem together - reveals trade-offs between feasibility desirability and viability	constraints → trade-offs → balanced solution
16	15	collaboration	Mentor and Apprentice	Senior expert teaches junior while junior asks naive questions - surfaces hidden assumptions through teaching	explanation → questions → deeper understanding
17	16	collaboration	Good Cop Bad Cop	Supportive persona and critical persona alternate - finds both strengths to build on and weaknesses to address	encouragement → criticism → balanced view
18	17	collaboration	Improv Yes-And	Multiple personas build on each other's ideas without blocking - generates unexpected creative directions through collaborative building	idea → build → build → surprising result
19	18	collaboration	Customer Support Theater	Angry customer and support rep roleplay to find pain points - reveals real user frustrations and service gaps	complaint → investigation → resolution → prevention
20	19	collaboration	Six Thinking Hats	Rotate through six modes (facts - feelings - caution - optimism - creativity - process) to ensure a group covers every angle without crosstalk	white → red → black → yellow → green → blue
21	20	collaboration	Delphi Method	Experts give independent estimates - see anonymized results - then revise — converges on calibrated group judgment while avoiding anchoring bias	independent estimates → reveal → revise → converge
22	21	competitive	Red Team vs Blue Team	Adversarial attack-defend analysis to find vulnerabilities - critical for security testing and building robust solutions	defense → attack → hardening
23	22	competitive	Shark Tank Pitch	Entrepreneur pitches to skeptical investors who poke holes - stress-tests business viability and forces clarity on value proposition	pitch → challenges → refinement
24	23	competitive	Code Review Gauntlet	Senior devs with different philosophies review the same code - surfaces style debates and finds consensus on best practices	reviews → debates → standards
25	24	core	First Principles Analysis	Strip away assumptions to rebuild from fundamental truths - breakthrough technique for innovation and solving impossible problems	assumptions → truths → new approach
26	25	core	5 Whys Deep Dive	Repeatedly ask why to drill down to root causes - simple but powerful for understanding failures	why chain → root cause → solution
27	26	core	Socratic Questioning	Use targeted questions to reveal hidden assumptions and guide discovery - excellent for teaching and self-discovery	questions → revelations → understanding
28	27	core	Critique and Refine	Systematic review to identify strengths and weaknesses then improve - standard quality check for drafts	strengths/weaknesses → improvements → refined
29	28	core	Explain Reasoning	Walk through step-by-step thinking to show how conclusions were reached - crucial for transparency	steps → logic → conclusion
30	29	core	Expand or Contract for Audience	Dynamically adjust detail level and technical depth for target audience - matches content to reader capabilities	audience → adjustments → refined content
31	30	core	Second-Order Thinking	Think beyond immediate consequences to anticipate cascading effects and long-term implications - essential for strategic decisions where first-order solutions create hidden downstream problems	action → consequences → second-order effects → informed choice
32	31	core	Inversion Analysis	Flip the problem by asking what would guarantee failure instead of how to succeed - reveals hidden obstacles and blind spots by approaching challenges from the opposite direction	goal → invert → failure paths → avoidance → solution
33	32	core	Problem Decomposition	Break a complex problem into independent sub-problems - solve each - then reassemble — essential when a task is too large or tangled to tackle whole	whole → parts → solutions → reassembly
34	33	core	Analogy Mapping	Find a well-understood parallel domain and transfer its structure to the current problem — unlocks insight by borrowing proven mental models	source domain → mapping → target insight
35	34	core	Steelmanning	Construct the strongest possible version of an opposing argument before responding — builds credibility and catches blind spots that strawmanning misses	opposing view → strongest form → honest rebuttal
36	35	creative	SCAMPER Method	Apply seven creativity lenses (Substitute/Combine/Adapt/Modify/Put/Eliminate/Reverse) - systematic ideation for product innovation	S→C→A→M→P→E→R
37	36	creative	Reverse Engineering	Work backwards from desired outcome to find implementation path - powerful for goal achievement and understanding endpoints	end state → steps backward → path forward
38	37	creative	What If Scenarios	Explore alternative realities to understand possibilities and implications - valuable for contingency planning and exploration	scenarios → implications → insights
39	38	creative	Random Input Stimulus	Inject unrelated concepts to spark unexpected connections - breaks creative blocks through forced lateral thinking	random word → associations → novel ideas
40	39	creative	Exquisite Corpse Brainstorm	Each persona adds to the idea seeing only the previous contribution - generates surprising combinations through constrained collaboration	contribution → handoff → contribution → surprise
41	40	creative	Genre Mashup	Combine two unrelated domains to find fresh approaches - innovation through unexpected cross-pollination	domain A + domain B → hybrid insights
42	41	creative	Constraint Injection	Deliberately add an artificial limitation (budget - time - technology) to force novel solutions — creativity thrives under pressure	add constraint → forced creativity → remove constraint → evaluate
43	42	creative	Morphological Analysis	List independent parameters of a problem - enumerate options for each - then systematically combine — ensures you don't miss non-obvious configurations	parameters → options grid → combinations → evaluation
44	43	framing	Abstraction Laddering	Move up ("why?") for strategic clarity or down ("how?") for tactical detail — ensures you're solving at the right altitude	concrete ↔ abstract → right level
45	44	framing	Reframe the Question	Challenge whether the stated problem is the real problem — often the question itself is wrong and a better framing unlocks an easy answer	stated problem → reframe → true problem → solution
46	45	framing	Stakeholder Lens Rotation	Serially adopt each stakeholder's world-view to see the same situation differently — reveals whose needs are being overlooked	perspective A → B → C → gaps found
47	46	learning	Feynman Technique	Explain complex concepts simply as if teaching a child - the ultimate test of true understanding	complex → simple → gaps → mastery
48	47	learning	Active Recall Testing	Test understanding without references to verify true knowledge - essential for identifying gaps	test → gaps → reinforcement
49	48	learning	Deliberate Practice Loop	Identify a specific sub-skill - drill it with immediate feedback - adjust - repeat — targeted improvement beats general repetition	isolate → drill → feedback → adjust → repeat
50	49	philosophical	Occam's Razor Application	Find the simplest sufficient explanation by eliminating unnecessary complexity - essential for debugging	options → simplification → selection
51	50	philosophical	Trolley Problem Variations	Explore ethical trade-offs through moral dilemmas - valuable for understanding values and difficult decisions	dilemma → analysis → decision
52	51	research	Literature Review Personas	Optimist researcher + skeptic researcher + synthesizer review sources - balanced assessment of evidence quality	sources → critiques → synthesis
53	52	research	Thesis Defense Simulation	Student defends hypothesis against committee with different concerns - stress-tests research methodology and conclusions	thesis → challenges → defense → refinements
54	53	research	Comparative Analysis Matrix	Multiple analysts evaluate options against weighted criteria - structured decision-making with explicit scoring	options → criteria → scores → recommendation
55	54	research	Source Triangulation	Require at least three independent source types (quantitative - qualitative - expert) before accepting a claim — guards against single-source bias	claim → source A → source B → source C → confidence rating
56	55	retrospective	Hindsight Reflection	Imagine looking back from the future to gain perspective - powerful for project reviews	future view → insights → application
57	56	retrospective	Lessons Learned Extraction	Systematically identify key takeaways and actionable improvements - essential for continuous improvement	experience → lessons → actions
58	57	risk	Pre-mortem Analysis	Imagine future failure then work backwards to prevent it - powerful technique for risk mitigation before major launches	failure scenario → causes → prevention
59	58	risk	Failure Mode Analysis	Systematically explore how each component could fail - critical for reliability engineering and safety-critical systems	components → failures → prevention
60	59	risk	Challenge from Critical Perspective	Play devil's advocate to stress-test ideas and find weaknesses - essential for overcoming groupthink	assumptions → challenges → strengthening
61	60	risk	Identify Potential Risks	Brainstorm what could go wrong across all categories - fundamental for project planning and deployment preparation	categories → risks → mitigations
62	61	risk	Chaos Monkey Scenarios	Deliberately break things to test resilience and recovery - ensures systems handle failures gracefully	break → observe → harden
63	62	risk	Assumption Audit	Explicitly list every assumption underlying a plan - rate each by confidence and impact - then stress-test the weakest — prevents building on shaky foundations	list → rate → stress-test → shore up
64	63	risk	Cascading Failure Simulation	Trace how one component's failure propagates through dependencies — reveals hidden coupling and single points of failure	trigger failure → trace propagation → find amplifiers → decouple
65	64	technical	Architecture Decision Records	Multiple architect personas propose and debate architectural choices with explicit trade-offs - ensures decisions are well-reasoned and documented	options → trade-offs → decision → rationale
66	65	technical	Rubber Duck Debugging Evolved	Explain your code to progressively more technical ducks until you find the bug - forces clarity at multiple abstraction levels	simple → detailed → technical → aha
67	66	technical	Algorithm Olympics	Multiple approaches compete on the same problem with benchmarks - finds optimal solution through direct comparison	implementations → benchmarks → winner
68	67	technical	Security Audit Personas	Hacker + defender + auditor examine system from different threat models - comprehensive security review from multiple angles	vulnerabilities → defenses → compliance
69	68	technical	Performance Profiler Panel	Database expert + frontend specialist + DevOps engineer diagnose slowness - finds bottlenecks across the full stack	symptoms → analysis → optimizations
70	69	technical	Boundary & Edge Case Sweep	Systematically test extremes - zeros - nulls - maximums - and type mismatches — catches the failures that happy-path thinking always misses	inputs → boundaries → edge cases → failures found