The Six Thinking Hats, in simple terms, is an exercise in getting participants to look at a topic from different perspectives. Each of psychologist Edward De Bono’s differently colored “thinking hats” represents a certain way of perceiving reality:

• White hat: Stands for objectivity, i.e., the facts and the statistics of the matter at hand
• Red hat: Stands for instinctive and unproven emotions towards an issue
• Black hat: Stands for exercising caution and outlining possible caveats and setbacks
• Yellow hat: Stands for optimism and outlining what’s working at the moment
• Green hat: Stands for optimistic creativity that fosters improvement and innovation
• Blue hat: Stands for summarizing, organizing, and preparing for the next steps

This activity is a great way to generate and evaluate ideas about a service, product, or feature multi-dimensionally.