Research · overview

Research Domain Overview

A four-phase Double Diamond methodology for structured discovery and validation.

The Research plugin uses the Double Diamond. Its four phases are discover, define, design and deliver. The first diamond frames the problem. The second explores and validates solutions. Each phase writes a numbered file to .singularskills/research/<topic>/, ending in actionable recommendations.

The Four Phases

PhaseCommandPurpose
Discover/research-discoverExplore the problem space through broad research
Define/research-defineSynthesize findings into a problem statement
Design/research-designGenerate and evaluate solution concepts
Deliver/research-deliverValidate and produce actionable recommendations

The Double Diamond

The methodology follows two "diamonds" of divergent and convergent thinking:

Diamond 1 (Problem Space): Discover casts a wide net, then Define narrows to a focused problem statement.

Diamond 2 (Solution Space): Design explores multiple solutions, then Deliver validates and converges on the best approach.

Artifact Flow

Each phase reads from previous phases and writes to .singularskills/research/<topic>/:

.singularskills/research/user-onboarding-friction/
  01-discover.md    ← Phase 1 output
  02-define.md      ← Phase 2 output
  03-design.md      ← Phase 3 output
  04-deliver.md     ← Phase 4 output

Quality Gates

The skills enforce phase ordering through quality gates:

  • Gates: each later phase's skill runs its scripts/gate.sh first and stops if a required earlier artifact is missing; e.g., you cannot design solutions until the problem is defined (02-define.md)
  • You can bypass a gate with --skip-checks when needed (logged as a skipped event in .singularskills/log.jsonl)

Skills in this domain

4 skills in this domain

Phase 1: Discover

Explore the problem space through broad research and data gathering.