Phase 3: Design
Generate and evaluate multiple solution concepts for the defined problem.
Purpose
The Design phase diverges again — this time on solutions. It generates multiple concepts, evaluates feasibility and impact, and recommends the most promising approaches for validation.
Usage
/research:design <topic>Example:
/research:design user onboarding frictionPrerequisites
Requires .metapowers/research/<topic>/02-define.md from the Define phase. This is a hard gate — you cannot design solutions without a defined problem. Use --skip-checks to bypass.
What It Does
- Reads the problem statement and HMW questions from Define
- Searches for existing solutions, case studies, and best practices
- Generates 3-5 distinct solution concepts
- Evaluates each on feasibility, impact, effort, and risk
- Recommends top concepts for validation
- Writes solution concepts to
.metapowers/research/<topic>/03-design.md
Output
Creates .metapowers/research/<topic>/03-design.md containing:
- Problem recap from Define
- Solution concepts with descriptions
- Evaluation matrix (feasibility, impact, effort, risk)
- Prioritized recommendations
- Validation plan for the Deliver phase
Next Phase
After Design, proceed to Deliver to validate and finalize recommendations.