These types of thinking are about innovation and exploration, not ego and opinion. Each hat has a different color that represents a specific mindset. Sometimes, all you need to break out of a comfort zone or come up with better approaches is a fresh perspective. The hats are not different roles to be assigned to people. Six thinking hats for improved brainstorming and collaboration.
A comprehensive database of six thinking hats quizzes online, test your knowledge with six thinking hats quiz questions. Six thinking hats is a parallel thinking technique which steers ones thought process in a detailed and cohesive manner. Six thinking hats one of the issues with groups of people trying to think creatively is that individuals will criticise the ideas of others and derail creative thinking. Six thinking hats for software testers stickyminds. Six thinking hats is a critical thinking tool that helps you look at a decision from different points of view. Hats help a group to use parallel thinking color of hat identifies the type or direction of thinking the main idea is to have the group wear only one hat at a time introduction to six thinking hats. And whether consciously or not, most of us automatically take stock of what we know before jumping into any big project. Six thinking hats for software testers julian harty starwest duration. But in project management circles, wearing the black hat can be a good thing. The 6 thinking hats of software testing download testuff. Our testing is only as good as our thinkingand all too often we are hampered by limiting ideas, poor communication, and preset roles and. The six thinking hats of exploratory testing planit. Students learn about six different types of thinking they can apply to any situation, represented by different colored hats.
To keep the group focused on providing feedback based on different views of the same situation minus the conflicts, im using a methodology created by edward debono called six thinking hats. Therefore, if youre currently struggling with an array of problems, then the six thinking hats method can become an excellent source of inspiration. Jun 24, 2019 the six hats thinking method enables teams to think deeply about problems without offending anyone personally. Six hats on software testing other testing test huddle. Remember you do not have to use the hat metaphor if you think it may get in the way.
Six thinking hats six thinking hats is a strategy that teaches students be flexible thinkers. Six thinking hats online an online course which serves as a supplement to your facetoface training in six thinking hats, the new thinking leader or the course in creativity cost. This particular interpretation of the six thinking hats is specifically targeted toward individuals who deal with daily challenges in their business, career, and life. When it comes to search engine optimization seo and network security, the term black hat has very negative often illegal connotations. Applying six thinking hats to lets test conference flow of testing. Construct the six different colored hats out of large pieces of construction paper. How to use the six thinking hats method for problem solving. The six thinking hats technique for problem solving. Online library of quality, service improvement and.
Parallel thinking is a practice in which the focus of all participants at any given time is in the same direction. An online course which serves as a supplement to your facetoface training in six thinking hats, the new thinking leader or the course in creativity cost. I had been sporadically using this concept in my daytoday life. Putting on a different thinking cap can help you innovate solutions in a whole new way. Realistically, that situation is quite similar to method acting, where actors create in themselves the thoughts and feelings of their characters to develop lifelike performances. It serves as a teambased problem solving and brainstorming technique that can be used to explore problems and solutions and uncover ideas and options that might otherwise be overlooked by a homogeneously thinking group. Each hat has a different purpose and there is a meta hat which drives. Reduce meeting length to one quarter of what they were previously make decisions in just 15 minutes, rather than 3 hours. What you have a skillful blue hat orchestrating things, the result is a meeting where collaboration underscores everything and better decisions are made.
Among tens of videos ive listened, one has rose above others. The theory offers an ever more effective and cohesive solution for both group discussions and individual thinking process. Testers commonly face challenges around onedimensional thinking, limited ideas, and communication issues. The title of the talk is six thinking hats for software testers and you can watch it. Planit the six thinking hats of exploratory testing. May 10, 20 the title of the talk is six thinking hats for software testers and you can watch it here. According to this new philosophy, it is possible to fuse the best components of many different cognitive styles to achieve optimal results in project management. The 6 thinking hats do not just apply to problem solving. Six thinking hats tips some groups can be put off by the concept of the hats, but you can still get them to use parallel thinking by just asking them to consider all the positives, negatives, data needs, etc.
Groups of people can roleplay with the six thinking hats using case studies and examples in the book. The colours are white for facts and figures red for emotions and feelings black for negative. Applying six thinking hats to lets test conference flow of. Six thinking hats theory and how to apply it to problem. Eight years on, these have remained useful and valuable for many people involved in software testing. If you are wondering about where he got the idea for hats, it comes from the phrase, put on your thinking cap. Blue hat topic peace making is a mandatory subject at all schools around the world. In this era of increased speedtomarket where focus is more on lean and agile, exploratory testing has become more significant than ever.
Using 6 thinking hats for better design thoughtworks. The title of the talk is six thinking hats for software testers and you can watch it here. And although we generally encourage starting with the blue hat, there. That video is julian hartys talk from starwest 2008. Explicit questions are provided for each of the six thinking hats, to support students to think deeply about the text, the lorax by dr seuss. Feb 26, 2020 six thinking hats for software testers julian harty starwest duration. This approach for using six thinking hats is lightweight and lowoverhead, but gets you 80% there without requiring everybody to know the details of the six thinking hats. Jul 25, 2016 in 2008 julian gave a popular keynote titled six thinking hats at the starwest conference, detailing ways testers could usefully improve their testing practices by applying various concepts and ideas to how they work. How to solve problems using the six thinking hats method. Six thinking hats programs, courses aiu students in. Posted by jessica tomechak, test engineering team julian harty, one of our senior test engineers, is presenting a keynote at the starwest conference today wednesday, october 1 on six thinking hats for software testers. Six thinking hats is a brainstorming technique which is used to incorporate parallel thinking. The six thinking hats concept aims to minimize the confusion in thinking that arises because of the way the human brain usually thinkstaking into consideration emotions, facts, creativity, hope, and logic all at once. You can use the six thinking hats to come up with a fully rounded view of the situation.
Listen in to learn how you can apply them to your work, and escape from your testing rut. Oct 16, 20 while there are pros and cons to using six thinking hats for user testing, one aspect that can help testers is to become better at role playing different users. How to use the six thinking hats technique lucidchart blog. May 08, 2018 the thinking has been segregated into six categories, hence the six thinking hats and each hat has been given a colour. Red hat thinkers tend to use hunches, gut feel, intuition and previous experience. Our testing is only as good as our thinkingand all too often we are hampered by limiting ideas, poor communication, and preset roles and responsibilities.
With six hats thinking, you adopt a parallel thinking process that examines an issue from different angles. The 6 thinking hats of software quality assurance testing published on october 6, 2015 october 6, 2015 28 likes 3 comments. The six thinking hats is a parallel thinking methodology so all individuals in a discussion all wear the same hat at the same time. Used to huge success by big companies and organisations such as ibm, siemens and nasa, the six hats method is a proven way to.
As with actual hats, each of the six thinking hats will not suit everyone. Six thinking hats and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively. Session 6 six thinking hats six thinking hats is an important and powerful technique. This work has been presented, developed, and refined over the last 5 years. On each of the hats, choose a word that describes the types of questions each hat focuses on. Oct 01, 2008 julian harty, one of our senior test engineers, is presenting a keynote at the starwest conference today wednesday, october 1 on six thinking hats for software testers. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our. Each hat has a different purpose and there is a meta hat which. Agenda define parallel thinking identify each of the six hats apply six hats method to problem solving 2. This will be a hands on workshop, working in small groups to learn and apply the basic concepts behind the 6 thinking hats to software testing. The 6 thinking hats of software quality assurance testing testuff. In the book he talks about promoting multidimensional thinking by mapping different colors to different cognitive styles.
They are different thinking modes that everyone should be able to put on and take off depending on what thinking is needed. Some of these practice questions will deal with the roles associated with different hats. Six thinking hats and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively in 2005, the tool found some use in the united kingdom innovation sector, where it was offered by some facilitation companies and. Improv and discussion exercises for testers stc meetup. This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you to get a more rounded view of a situation.
Anuj magazine looks at how this concept can help with user experience testing. How to use the six thinking hats for uxexploratory testing. Wikipedia describes the underlying principle like this. This webinar presents the concepts of six thinking hats, and demonstrates how they have been applied to software testing. It forces you to move outside your norm, and helps you to consider things from multiple perspectives. Students work in small cooperative groups to discuss ke.
Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in strategy formation or complex decisionmaking processes. How six thinking hats can help with user experience testing. The model is considered as the underlying theory of critical thinking. Applying the six thinking hats exercise 0 group discussion exercise. I have a good feeling about it, im sure it will work because ive seen it work for other businesses. Six thinking hats ihi institute for healthcare improvement. The 6 thinking hats of software quality assurance testing. The 6 thinking hats of software testing 8 key takeaway most software testers feel right at home wearing the white hat. In my quest to further explore its usage, i gave a shot to use this amazing concept for creative writing. The 6th technique is designed to help individuals deliberately adopt a variety of perspectives. Oct 04, 2009 i had written about six thinking hats and its association with software testing a while back.
Optimistic judgmental creative emotional directiongiving factual. The author presents a structure to make thinking more effective when decisions must be made. Six thinking hats for software testers julian harty starwest. It simplifies thinking by creating focus on one thing at a time, and allows us to engineer switch in thinking without offending others. Parallel thinking guides thought processes in one direction at a time so we can effectively analyze issues, generate new ideas, and make better decisions. Each of the six hats has a color representing a direction of thinkingthe blue hat provides the overview and helps to keep us productive, the white hat helps us to collect facts, the red is a way to express intuition and feelings without having to justify them, the yellow hat seeks the best possible outcome, the black hat helps us to discover what might go wrongnot only with the software but also with our tests and our assumptions. It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives. For example, the white hat calls for information known or needed, so facts is a good word to place on the white hat. Improv and discussion exercises for testers slideshare. These are the six thinking hats, showing various different ways of approaching problems but of course, not everyone is alike, and people will naturally prefer some ways of thinking to others. Six thinking hats overview click for an editable template what is the six thinking hats technique.
Independent software testing consultant this webinar presents the concepts of six thinking hats, and demonstrates how they have been applied to software testing. The timer can ask for any of the six thinking hats. Our online six thinking hats trivia quizzes can be adapted to suit your requirements for taking some of the top six thinking hats quizzes. Thinking hats that make software testing effective creative explorer. After a few minutes, swap hats and continue the discussion with the new thinking styles. Below is a general overview of the different roles, purpose, and goals behind each hat. The key is to list questions that everybody can focus on and cycle through. It is also known as the black hat session, as the black hat is really important to it, as ill describe later. There are six different color imaginary hats that you can put on or take off. Consider offering a brief presentation or short prereading on the nature of parallel thinking. His work is now widely used in education and business. Applying six thinking hats to lets test conference flow. How to use the six thinking hats to improve your thinking.