Critical Judgment, Six Thinking Hats

The following text is from wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats The de Bono Hats system (also known as "Six Hats" or "Six Thinking Hats") is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking. Combined with the idea of parallel thinking which is associated with it, it provides a means for groups to think together more effectively, and a means to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way. The method is attributed to Dr. Edward de Bono and is the subject of his book, Six Thinking Hats[1]. The method is finding widespread use in the UK innovation sector, is offered by numerous facilitation companies and has been trialled within the UK civil service.[2] Black hat – Critical Judgment Participants identify barriers, hazards, risks and other negative connotations. This is critical thinking, looking for problems and mismatches. This hat is usually natural for people to use, the issues with it are that people will tend to use it when it is not requested and when it is not appropriate, thus stopping the flow of others. Preventing inappropriate use of the black hat is a common obstacle and vital step to effective group thinking. Another difficulty faced is that some people will naturally start to look for the solutions to raised problems - they start practicing green on black thinking before it is requested. Commercial examples are: * We will be facing strong competition in that market * What if we cannot get enough capital together to support the investment? * We might not be able to make it cheaply enough for our customers to buy it * There will be too much political opposition to this approach * There is a risk that new legislation will make this market unattractive Examples from the referenced article are: * Time is wasted * Learning is compromised * Those speaking feel that black hat listeners do not respect them and do not wish to hear what they are saying * Flow of discussion is less clear