Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats organizes parallel thinking: white considers information, red feelings and intuition, yellow value, black caution, green new possibilities, and blue the thinking process. In groups everyone wears the same hat at a time; hats are changing modes, not personality roles.

1. 1

   Blue

   Set focus and hat sequence

   

   Goal

   The blue hat defines question, decision, sequence, timeboxes and capture.

   Inputs for this step

   • Concrete question or option
   • Participants, time and desired result

   Actions

   • State the question, scope and required result visibly.
   • Choose a shared hat sequence and time per hat; explain that everyone uses the same mode together.

   Output

   Thinking agenda

   Question · result · hat sequence · timeboxes

   Quality check

   Is it clear which question should be answered or advanced by the end?

   Pitfall

   Participants choose personal favorite hats and argue from different modes at once. Blue facilitation owns the sequence and calls one shared hat for everyone at a time.

   Timing: 5–10 minutes

2. 2

   White + red

   Separate information and reaction

   

   Goal

   White clarifies facts and gaps; red exposes feelings and intuition without pressure to justify.

   Inputs for this step

   • Thinking agenda
   • Available data, experience and current reactions

   Actions

   • Under white, collect known facts, sources, uncertainty and missing information.
   • Under red, state feelings, hunches and reactions briefly without debating them or presenting them as fact.

   Output

   Information and reaction picture

   Known · missing · source · feeling · intuition

   Quality check

   Are facts, assumptions and feelings clearly distinguished?

   Pitfall

   Feelings are defended as data or facts are mixed with lengthy opinions. Assign statements to the relevant hat and restate them briefly in that mode.

   Timing: 10–20 minutes

3. 3

   Yellow + black

   Examine benefit and caution in parallel

   

   Goal

   Yellow seeks reasoned value; black examines risks, weaknesses and failure conditions.

   Inputs for this step

   • Question, option or initial ideas
   • Information and reaction picture

   Actions

   • Under yellow, identify possible benefits, value and success conditions with reasons.
   • Under black, name risks, weaknesses, limits and negative effects precisely; do not allow blanket rejection.

   Output

   Benefit-risk picture

   Value · success condition · risk · protection need

   Quality check

   Are benefits and risks each connected to a concrete mechanism?

   Pitfall

   Yellow becomes unsupported optimism or black becomes personal criticism and obstruction. Ask for the concrete value path or concrete failure condition.

   Timing: 10–20 minutes

4. 4

   Green

   Generate alternatives and detours

   

   Goal

   The green hat expands the solution space and responds to identified risks with new options.

   Inputs for this step

   • Benefits, risks and information gaps
   • Creative prompts and room for change

   Actions

   • Generate new options, variations, provocations and combinations without immediate evaluation.
   • Reframe black-hat risks as “How might we still?” and develop at least three distinct paths.

   Output

   Option space

   Alternatives · variations · workarounds · open tests

   Quality check

   Does the option space contain genuinely different mechanisms rather than rewordings?

   Pitfall

   The group returns to black-hat evaluation immediately after every new idea. Park evaluation visibly and require a fixed number of further alternatives under green.

   Timing: 10–20 minutes

5. 5

   Blue

   Synthesize thinking and act

   

   Goal

   The blue hat integrates contributions, decides the next step and records open gaps.

   Inputs for this step

   • Contributions from all six hats
   • Decision authority and available next steps

   Actions

   • Summarize facts, feelings, value, risks and options without blending them.
   • Define decision, test or information gathering with owner, expected signal and review date; briefly reflect on the process.

   Output

   Thinking record and next step

   Summary · decision · test · owner · review

   Quality check

   Does the next step reflect the most important contributions from all relevant hats?

   Pitfall

   The session ends after ideas without synthesis, decision or a named information gap. Use blue to prioritize open points and agree exactly one checkable follow-up.

   Timing: 5–15 minutes