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skills/ck-problem-solving/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: ck-problem-solving
+description: Apply systematic problem-solving techniques when stuck. Use for complexity spirals, innovation blocks, recurring patterns, assumption constraints, simplification cascades, and scale uncertainty.
+---
+
+# Problem-Solving Techniques
+
+Systematic approaches for different types of stuck-ness. Each technique targets a specific problem pattern.
+
+## When to Use
+
+- Complexity spiraling: multiple implementations, growing special cases
+- Innovation blocks: conventional solutions inadequate
+- Recurring patterns: same issue appearing across domains
+- Assumption constraints: forced into "only one way"
+- Scale uncertainty: production readiness unclear
+- General stuck-ness: unsure which approach to take
+
+## Don't Use When
+
+- Problem is straightforward and well-understood
+- Simply need more time or information, not a different approach
+
+## Quick Dispatch
+
+| Stuck Symptom | Technique |
+|---------------|-----------|
+| Same thing implemented 5+ ways, growing special cases | Simplification Cascades |
+| Conventional solutions inadequate, need breakthrough | Collision-Zone Thinking |
+| Same issue in different places, reinventing wheels | Meta-Pattern Recognition |
+| Solution feels forced, "must be done this way" | Inversion Exercise |
+| Will this work at production? Edge cases unclear? | Scale Game |
+
+## Core Techniques
+
+### 1. Simplification Cascades
+Find one insight eliminating multiple components. "If this is true, we don't need X, Y, Z."
+
+**Key insight:** Everything is a special case of one general pattern.
+
+**Red flag:** "Just need to add one more case..." (repeating forever)
+
+### 2. Collision-Zone Thinking
+Force unrelated concepts together. "What if we treated X like Y?"
+
+**Key insight:** Revolutionary ideas emerge from deliberate metaphor-mixing.
+
+**Red flag:** "I've tried everything in this domain"
+
+### 3. Meta-Pattern Recognition
+Spot patterns appearing in 3+ domains to find universal principles.
+
+**Key insight:** Patterns in how patterns emerge reveal reusable abstractions.
+
+**Red flag:** "This problem is unique" (probably not)
+
+### 4. Inversion Exercise
+Flip core assumptions. "What if the opposite were true?"
+
+**Key insight:** Valid inversions reveal context-dependence of assumed "rules."
+
+**Red flag:** "There's only one way to do this"
+
+### 5. Scale Game
+Test at extremes (1000x bigger/smaller, instant/year-long) to expose fundamental truths.
+
+**Key insight:** What works at one scale fails at another.
+
+**Red flag:** "Should scale fine" (without testing)
+
+## Application Process
+
+1. Identify stuck-type — match symptom to technique above
+2. Apply technique systematically
+3. Document insights — record what worked and what failed
+4. Combine if needed — some problems need multiple techniques
+
+## Powerful Combinations
+
+- **Simplification + Meta-pattern** — find pattern, then simplify all instances
+- **Collision + Inversion** — force metaphor, then invert its assumptions
+- **Scale + Simplification** — extremes reveal what to eliminate
+- **Meta-pattern + Scale** — universal patterns tested at extremes