Six Thinking Hats: The Six thinking Hats Methodology is a process used to

encourage a exploration of diverse perspectives and in doing so the identification of

undiscovered requirements for a system. The concept was first proposed in in book Six Thinking Hats and outlines 6 ways or perspectives that I problem should be

viewed from (De Bono, 1986): 1. White Hat (Facts)- Look at the problem from a neutral objective standpoint. Focus on the facts at hand. This can be an effective perspective early in problem

exploration as it exposes important information about the problem being solved. 2. Red Hat (Emotions)- Explore hunches, intuitions and gut feelings that you have

and think could solve the problem. Can be used as an effective tool to get an idea of what all current stakeholders are thinking as well as their agenda for the project. 3. Black Hat (Critical)- Look at the problem from a analytical, logical perspective.

This hat can help in the identification of obstacles that may prevent an idea being developed into a final requirement. This hat can be used as a convergent process

after a divergent exploration of ideas. 4. Yellow Hat (Sunshine)- Take a positive perspective on the problem. This hat can effectively be used explore stakeholder perspectives of ideas but is limited to only

positive perspectives. This is completed by the black hat which only looks at negative perspectives..

5. Green Hat (Creative)- Think of solutions that encourage growth, possibilities and are unusual. This hat is mainly used for divergent thinking and coming up with new ideas.

6. Blue Hot (Cool)- Focus on gaining a high level understanding of what has happened. This can be an effective tool to conclude meetings and ensure that

everyone is on the same page about the results.There are a range of ways that these hats can be used to develop an effective process. In a group situation the importance of all participants wearing the same hat at the same time is stressed.

One such process could look as follows: 1. Present the known facts (white hat)

2. Generate ideas on how the problem could be solved (Green hat) 3. Explore the benefits of the ideas generated (Yellow hat) 4. Explore the drawbacks of the ideas generated (Black hat)

5. Ask participants for their gut feelings on the ideas and which would be valuable (Red hat)

6. Summarise findings and what the next steps of the process should be (Blue hat)