id: six-thinking-hats
title: Six Thinking Hats
description: >-
  A parallel thinking method where a group considers a topic from one
  perspective at a time, signalled by six metaphorical "hats." Developed by
  Edward de Bono.
source: Edward de Bono, "Six Thinking Hats"
source_url: https://www.edwdebono.com/
tags: [thinking, creativity, meetings, facilitation]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: White Hat — facts
    description: >-
      The group considers only information and facts: what is known, what is
      missing, what data is needed.
  - headline: Red Hat — feelings
    description: >-
      Each person expresses gut feelings and intuition, without needing to
      justify them.
  - headline: Black Hat — caution
    description: >-
      The group identifies risks, difficulties, and what could go wrong,
      without being dismissed as negative.
  - headline: Yellow Hat — benefits
    description: >-
      The group names the value, benefits, and optimistic possibilities of
      the idea.
  - headline: Green Hat — creativity
    description: >-
      The group generates alternatives, provocations, and new ideas without
      critique.
  - headline: Blue Hat — process
    description: >-
      The facilitator manages the sequence, summarises, and defines next
      steps.
outcome: >-
  The group explores a topic thoroughly without arguments tangling
  perspectives; each mode gets its full attention.
practice: >-
  Keep hat time short and clearly signposted. The hardest discipline is
  staying in one hat — if black-hat thinking creeps into yellow-hat time,
  name it and return.