1. The Six Thinking Hats
Supannika K Mobasser

2. The Six Thinking Hats A system designed by Edward de Bono
For group discussion and individual thinking
A parallel thinking process
more productive, focused, and mindfully involved
© 2016 USC-CSSE

3. Benefits Opposite to Spaghetti Thinking
Focus on a particular approach at a time
More collaborative rather than reacting emotionally
Looking at the problems from different angles
Focus on problem solving
© 2016 USC-CSSE

4. Blue Hat Thinking- Process
What is the subject?
What are we thinking about?
What is the goal?
Organizing the thinking
Planning for action
"Time to Yellow Hat this idea. Everything else aside, what are the benefits of this plan?"
© 2016 USC-CSSE

5. White Hat Thinking- Facts
Fact, Information and data
Neutral and objective
What do I know?
What do I need to find out?
How will I get the information I need?
"What does it costs us to manufacture one unit?"
"Revenue was up 8.5% last quarter."
"There are estimated to be 75 million year olds in the US, as of last year."
© 2016 USC-CSSE

6. Green Hat Thinking - Creativity
Ideas, alternative, possibilities
Out of the Box
Solutions to black hat problems
“Instead of manufacturing in China, we could refurbish a plant in Detroit."
© 2016 USC-CSSE

7. Yellow Hat Thinking- Benefits
Positives, plus points
Logical reasons are given.
Why an idea is useful
What are the benefits
"Our sales staff already has a lot of experience selling widgets."
"Pushing into a new market segment would open up a lot of room for growth."
© 2016 USC-CSSE

8. Black Hat Thinking - Cautions
Difficulties, weaknesses, dangers
Logical reasons are given.
Spotting the risks
What could go wrong?
Playing devil’s advocate
"We don’t have the production capacity to expand that fast."
"I’m pretty sure that would be illegal."
© 2016 USC-CSSE

9. Red Hat Thinking - Feelings
Intuition, hunches, gut instinct
My feelings right now.
No reasons are given.
How will customers feel?
"That suggestion makes me angry."
"I really love this project! I’m excited to work more on it!"
© 2016 USC-CSSE

10. How to use the six thinking hats
A meeting may be called to review a particular problem and to develop a solution for the problem
Suggested Steps
Blue hat – discuss how the meeting will be conducted, goals and objectives
White hat – identify information, discuss data and facts
Green hat – generate possible solutions, alternatives
Yellow hat – identify benefits and values
Red hat – collect opinion and reactions to the problem; identify constraints
Black hat – criticize the solution set
© 2016 USC-CSSE

11. How to use the six thinking hats
Don’t need to use all hats, any sequence, put time box
To discover the positive and negative aspects of an idea
Yellow (benefits) > Black (challenges) > Green (alternatives) > Red (feelings)
Caution Sequence
White (facts) > Black (difficulties) > Blue (steps) > Red (feelings)
Comparing fact and opinion
White hat (facts) > Red hat (feelings)
Coming up with new idea
Black (difficulties) > Yellow (benefits) > Green (alternatives)
Planning
White hat (facts) > Blue (steps)
© 2016 USC-CSSE

12. Longer sequences Problem Solving: blue - definition of problem
white - available info
green - possible solutions
yellow - reality check solutions
black - weak points solutions
white - connect to info
blue - draw conclusion
Creative Effort:
blue - purpose of creativity
white - topic info
green - generating ideas
yellow - idea benefits
black - idea down sides
green - solving down sides
red - gut feelings
Investigation:
blue - definition of investigation
white - available info
green - hypothesizing
white - investigate more info
blue – summarize
Decision Making:
blue - topic of decision
green - offer alternatives
white - factual situation
yellow - suitability alternatives
black - un-suitability alternatives
red - making the decision
black - assessing decision
© 2016 USC-CSSE

13. 577 Random team formation Hat Focus Example Blue hat
Set the agenda; facilitate the meeting
Random team formation instead of self-organizing team. Pick based on 577b commitment
2 minutes for each hat.
White hat
What info do I have?
Yellow hat
What’s the benefits?
Black hat
What’s the downside?
Red hat
How do you feel about this?
Green hat
What are additional opportunities?
© 2016 USC-CSSE

14. IC-10
3 teams, team of 5
Off-campus : pick any topic you prefer, submit by Monday April 25th.
Team A – A new class activity that encourage students to speak up
blue - purpose of creativity
white - topic info
green - generating ideas
yellow - idea benefits
black - idea down sides
green - solving down sides
red - gut feelings
Team B – A new project selection or proposal matching
blue - purpose of creativity
white - topic info
green - generating ideas
yellow - idea benefits
black - idea down sides
green - solving down sides
red - gut feelings
Team C – Self-organizing team or class assigned team
blue - topic of decision
green - offer alternatives
white - factual situation
yellow - suitability alternatives
black - un-suitability alternatives
red - making the decision
black - assessing decision
© 2016 USC-CSSE

15. Resources http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php
© 2016 USC-CSSE