Foundation Sprint Approach Options: Brainshelf Book Catalog (Day 2 Morning)

Scenario

The Brainshelf team is in Day 2 morning of their Foundation Sprint. Day 1 strategic position is committed (capture speed + personal recall). Jamie invokes tool-foundation-sprint-approach-options to force generation of 3-7 candidate approaches before Magic Lenses converges on a top bet. The team generated 9 candidates in silent ideation, clustered them, and the Decider narrowed to 5 for one-page evaluation.

Approach A: Camera-First Capture

Label: Yellow / Camera

What it is: The home screen is a camera. Point it at a book spine, dust jacket, or shelf and the app captures it via OCR plus cover-recognition into a private library.

Why it’s a good idea:

Eliminates typing entirely. Sub-3-second capture is achievable. Naturally private (no feed). Matches how people physically encounter books they want to remember. The 22 customer interviews repeatedly named typing-friction as the #1 reason for abandoning Goodreads; this approach attacks that pain directly.

Sketch:

+----------------+
|                |
|   [CAMERA]     |
|     viewfinder |
|                |
|   "Snap a book"|
|                |
|  [recents]     |
+----------------+

How it serves the differentiators:

Capture speed: maximum (single action, no typing).
Personal recall: requires complementary recall view (separate screen reachable from library badge).

Approach B: Library Browser

Label: Blue / Library

What it is: The home screen is the user’s personal library (visual grid of book covers). A persistent capture button floats above. Recall is by browsing.

Why it’s a good idea:

Beautiful default state. Matches mental model of a physical shelf. Recall is one tap. Customers who use Apple Books or Kindle’s library view recognize the pattern immediately.

Sketch:

+----------------+
| [+] My Library |
|  [b][b][b][b]  |
|  [b][b][b][b]  |
|  [b][b][b][b]  |
|                |
+----------------+

How it serves the differentiators:

Capture speed: high but requires extra tap (Floating Action Button).
Personal recall: very high (the home screen IS recall).

Approach C: Voice-First Capture

Label: Green / Voice

What it is: User speaks: “Just finished Project Hail Mary, loved the alien biology.” App resolves the book, captures the note, files it. Recall is also voice (“did I read anything by Andy Weir?”).

Why it’s a good idea:

Hands-free. Captures opinions, not just titles. Especially fast from physical contexts (walking out of bookstore, finishing on a treadmill).

Sketch:

+----------------+
|                |
|  "Speak"  [mic]|
|                |
|  Listening...  |
|                |
|  Just heard:   |
|  "Project Hail |
|   Mary"        |
+----------------+

How it serves the differentiators:

Capture speed: very high (no UI manipulation).
Personal recall: medium (voice recall is less reliable for “did I read X?”).

Approach D: Bookstore Mode

Label: Red / Store

What it is: A specialized mode triggered by geofence at bookstores and libraries that switches the app into “have I read this?” lookup. Browse with phone in hand; titles flash up read/unread status.

Why it’s a good idea:

Surfaces personal recall at the highest-friction moment. Solves the “did I already read this?” pain directly. Differentiated against every competitor.

Sketch:

+----------------+
|  Powell's      |
|  Books         |
|                |
|  Project Hail  |
|  Mary  [READ]  |
|                |
|  Tomorrow      |
|  [NEW]         |
+----------------+

How it serves the differentiators:

Capture speed: lower than A/B/C (mode-specific entry).
Personal recall: extremely high (context-aware recall).

Approach E: Read-Later Capture Triage

Label: Purple / Triage

What it is: Brainshelf is a strict capture-and-recall tool for “want to read” intent. Recommendations from any source (article, friend text, podcast) flow into a single triage queue; user processes weekly.

Why it’s a good idea:

Solves the “I get recommendations and lose them” pain directly. Models the product on Pocket / Instapaper, which is a familiar mental model.

Sketch:

+----------------+
| Inbox (8 new)  |
|                |
| Snow Crash     |
|   from Sarah   |
|   [archive]    |
|                |
| Pachinko       |
|   from Vox     |
|   [archive]    |
+----------------+

How it serves the differentiators:

Capture speed: high via share extension.
Personal recall: medium (recall is about queue, not memory).

Approach Set Summary

Label	Approach	Primary capture / interaction	Primary value	Top trade-off
Yellow	Camera-First	Visual scan + OCR	Maximum capture speed	Recall is secondary screen
Blue	Library Browser	Tap-add (FAB)	Recall-as-home-screen	Capture takes extra tap
Green	Voice-First	Voice	Hands-free	Voice recall less reliable
Red	Bookstore Mode	Geofenced lookup	Context-aware recall	Niche; requires location data
Purple	Triage Inbox	Share extension	Captures recommendations from anywhere	No personal recall mechanism

Decider Checkpoint

Decider sign-off required before Day 2 afternoon (Magic Lenses) begins.

Jamie confirms 5 approaches advance to Magic Lenses evaluation.
Jamie confirms all 5 honor the 5 decision principles from yesterday.
Jamie confirms each approach serves both committed differentiators.
Jamie acknowledges that Magic Lenses will narrow to 1 top bet plus 1 backup; not all 5 will survive.
Jamie has not pre-committed to any approach.

Signed: Jamie (founder, PM), 2026-05-14 11:50 PT