six-thinking-hats
six-thinking-hats
Runs Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats: examines a topic in six modes (White facts, Red feelings, Black caution, Yellow benefits, Green creativity, Blue process control) so everyone looks in the same direction at once instead of arguing across directions. Catches the failure where deliberation becomes a fight and the topic is never seen from every angle.
The six hats, their strict discipline, the failure modes, and the suggested sequence live in references/six-hats.md. Load that file before facilitating, and hold each hat strictly in its lane.
When to use
The user wants to evaluate an idea, plan, or decision from all sides, run a structured deliberation, or break a deadlock where people are talking past each other. The unit is one focus question examined in full. Distinguish from a pre-mortem, which looks only at how something fails (the Black hat alone), and from a weighted decision matrix, which scores defined options against criteria. If there is a single clear question, use this; if the user is choosing among several options on known criteria, a scoring method fits better.
Language
Conduct the session and write the report in the language the user is writing in. The reference file is English; keep the framework keyed to it regardless of the output language.
Inputs
- TOPIC (required): the idea, plan, or decision to examine. Push for one focus question. If the topic is broad or tangled, narrow it to a single question with the Blue hat in Stage 1 before fanning out.
- CONTEXT (optional): the stakes, the people affected, the decision the session should inform, and any constraints. Shapes the focus question, the hat sequence, and the framing of the synthesis, not the discipline of each hat.