Learning guide and study notes
What else could work? Use it to generate alternatives before judging them.
Creative thinking deliberately separates divergent option generation from critical judgment, helping teams escape binary “A or B” debates by exploring genuinely different mechanisms before selecting and testing the best fit.
Separate idea generation from evaluation. Six Thinking Hats is one way to deliberately switch between facts, possibilities, value, risk, feelings and process.
Work through these steps in order, applying the tools above. Write down the answer to each step before moving on.
Name the desired outcome and temporarily suspend the first proposed solution. [1] Source: De Bono Group — Six Thinking Hats (opens in a new tab)
Use the green-hat lens to create genuinely different alternatives before the black-hat risk review. [1] Source: De Bono Group — Six Thinking Hats (opens in a new tab)
Assess promising ideas for evidence, value and feasibility; run a small test. [2] Source: Design Council — Framework for Innovation (opens in a new tab)
Take a recurring IT problem and produce five options from different mechanisms; delay ranking until all five exist.
Situation: An operations team wants faster incident triage.
How to apply: Generate runbook search, alert redesign, human-in-the-loop automation and training options before choosing a tool.
Outcome: Pilot two distinct approaches and compare effort, accuracy and risk.
Situation: A team assumes the only way to cut maintenance downtime is to buy a duplicate active-active cluster.
How to apply: Generate alternatives across mechanisms: read-only degraded mode, queued async writes, schema-compatible rolling updates, and off-peak traffic shifting.
Outcome: Adopt compatible rolling schema migrations plus a brief read-only buffer, cutting user-visible downtime by 90% at minimal cost.
Situation: Writing a 200-page architecture manual is stalling because senior engineers lack time.
How to apply: Brainstorm non-manual mechanisms: recorded incident walkthroughs, seeded sandbox fault drills, pair-debugging rotations, and executable tests.
Outcome: Launch a sandbox fault-drill lab with 15-minute recorded walkthroughs that new hires complete in their first week.
Illustrative examples showing how the lens changes decisions; not measured outcomes.
Watch out: Brainstorming many near-identical ideas is not diversity; novelty alone is not value.
Combine this lens with others rather than relying on it alone. Browse all thinkings
Generate alternatives through different mechanisms before choosing which ideas deserve a test.
Use a problem of your own. Write a short answer to each prompt, then return after trying the method.
Answer from memory before opening the suggested answer.
They may be variations rather than different mechanisms. Also consider eliminating demand, redesigning the process, improving information, or changing responsibilities.
Premature rejection can narrow exploration to familiar options. Evaluation still follows, using evidence, value, feasibility, and risk.
These sources support the method; the examples and exercises are original teaching illustrations.