meow:problem-solving
Seven non-default techniques for when you're stuck on approach, not on cause.
What This Skill Does
meow:problem-solving targets the stuck-moments where default thinking fails — complexity spirals, innovation blocks, forced assumptions, scale uncertainty, "told it's impossible," and bloated systems needing subtraction. Each technique is a specific mental shift with a crisp trigger symptom.
Distinct from meow:sequential-thinking (which is for evidence-based root-cause debugging). Problem-solving is for being stuck on approach; sequential-thinking is for being stuck on cause.
Core Capabilities
- Symptom-based dispatch — 8-row table routes stuck-symptoms to the right technique; no guessing
- Seven techniques — Simplification Cascades, Collision-Zone Thinking, Meta-Pattern Recognition, Inversion Exercise, Scale Game, First Principles, Via Negativa
- Explicit boundary — description and dispatch table reroute debugging requests to
meow:sequential-thinking - Progressive disclosure — SKILL.md is a router; references/ loads on demand (one technique at a time)
- Gotchas section — 9 named failure modes (tool-stacking, premature abstraction, invalid inversion, scale-game theater, first-principles tourism, etc.)
- Composable — 4 documented technique-combinations for when one pass isn't enough
When to Use This
Use meow:problem-solving when...
- Same concept implemented 5+ ways; growing special cases
- Conventional solutions feel incremental; need breakthrough
- Same issue reappears across domains (reinventing wheels)
- Solution feels forced; "must be this way" thinking
- "Should scale fine" — no idea where limits actually are
- Told it's "impossible" or "too expensive"
- System is bloated; instinct is to add but removing is the fix
Do NOT use for
- Root-cause debugging → use
meow:sequential-thinking(evidence-based hypothesis testing) - Trivial fixes (typo, rename, single-file with obvious cause)
- Known-options trade-off → use
meow:party(multi-agent) ormeow:brainstorming
The Seven Techniques
| Technique | Red Flag (trigger phrase) | Win Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Simplification Cascades | "Just need to add one more case..." | 10× (things deleted), not 10% |
| Collision-Zone Thinking | "I've tried everything in this domain" | Emergent properties from metaphor |
| Meta-Pattern Recognition | "This problem is unique" | Pattern appears in 3+ domains → universal |
| Inversion Exercise | "There's only one way to do this" | Valid inversion reveals context-dependence |
| Scale Game | "Should scale fine" without evidence | Production readiness validated before production |
| First Principles | Everyone accepts a constraint without evidence | Rebuild from fundamentals; escape analogy |
| Via Negativa | "Adding X to fix problem caused by adding Y" | Remove to surface the real issue |
References
| Reference | When to load |
|---|---|
when-stuck.md | Start here if symptom unclear — dispatch flowchart |
simplification-cascades.md | Complexity spirals, growing special cases |
collision-zone-thinking.md | Need breakthrough; conventional inadequate |
meta-pattern-recognition.md | Same shape across 3+ places; reinventing wheels |
inversion-exercise.md | Solution feels forced; "must be" thinking |
scale-game.md | Production behavior unclear; edge cases unknown |
first-principles.md | Told "impossible"; reasoning by analogy |
via-negativa.md | Bloated; addition-bias; subtraction is the fix |
attribution.md | Source lineage (claudekit / amplifier / cc-thinking-skills) |
Skill Details
Phase: Cross-cutting. Triggers during planning or implementation when stuck on approach.
Gotchas
- Tool-stacking — running 3 techniques at once hides which one helped. One at a time.
- Debugging misroute — "my code is broken" is not problem-solving territory. Route to
meow:sequential-thinking. - Premature abstraction — collapsing 2 instances. Meta-pattern rule requires 3+ domains.
- Invalid inversion — "trust all user input" is a security hole, not a valid inversion.
- Scale-game theater — thinking about 1000× without running the numbers.
- First-principles tourism — listing assumptions ≠ challenging them. Must ask why each is assumed.
Related
meow:sequential-thinking— Evidence-based root-cause diagnosis (distinct axis)meow:brainstorming— Exploring known-alternative trade-offsmeow:party— Multi-agent deliberation for architectural decisionsmeow:investigate— 5-phase debugging (upstream of sequential-thinking)