Thinking Codes, Triggers, Games & Templates for Doctoral Studies
Alwyn Lau
““Give me Give me white, yellow, white, yellow,
black black and green.”and green.”
Edward de Bono
Inventor of the 6 Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, etc.
Facts
Figures
Information
a CODE for clearer a CODE for clearer communicationcommunication
Problems
Risks
Judgment
Benefits
Optimism
All Positive
AdversarialThinking
ParallelThinking
a GAME to remove bias from thinking
EgoEgo must be must be separated from separated from
PerformancePerformance
Alternatives
Options
Choices
““Creativity begins with Creativity begins with the generation of the generation of alternatives.”alternatives.”
Edward de BonoEdward de Bono
The Birthday
Present
““Our traditional thinking is Our traditional thinking is concerned with: concerned with: What-ISWhat-IS. . It isn’t good at designing It isn’t good at designing What-CAN-BEWhat-CAN-BE.”.”
Edward de BonoEdward de Bono
Invent. Reinvent. Invent. Reinvent. Repeat.Repeat.
a TRIGGERto generate ideas
Emotions
‘Gut-Feel’
Feelings
Always ‘Factor In’ Emotions
Be Sensitive to Sensitivity
Avoid “Cognitive Violence”
No matter how great your ideas and arguments are…
Controllingthe other 5 hats
“We need more options!”
“Is it too yellow? Too
much black?”
a TEMPLATE for all-rounded thinking
The 6 Hats are useful as a…
• CodeCode for systematic communication
• GameGame for objective evaluation/analysis
• TriggerTrigger to generate more and new ideas
• TemplateTemplate for all-rounded thinking
How do we use the hats in doctoral studies
Doctoral Studies and the Hats
• More effective communication between faculty and students
• Clear and focused thinking
• Thinking games for (facilitated?) group discussion and more objective analysis
• Full spectrum of thinking about research (especially emotions!)
• Green– List down at least a dozen topics, areas, industries,
problems you may have an interest in researching– What are all the possible issues, angles and
dimensions which could emerge from this survey?– What are 10 recommendations resulting from this
research
• Black & Yellow– What are the key problems with arguments I admire?
Have I covered all the benefits of views I don’t agree with?
– What else can I do? What could I have missed out?
Doctoral Studies and the Hats (cont’d)
Doctoral Studies and the Hats (cont’d)
• White– What are all the facts I need to know BEFORE I
begin? Do I have enough hard data?– Are all my facts accurate? Could I have mistaken
‘subjective interpretation’ for ‘objective truth’?
• Red & Blue– What are my biases and possible blind-spots?– How does this topic affect me emotionally and what
does this say about me, the topic, etc.?– Have I generated enough ideas, points and options?
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