Apply Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats methodology to software testing for comprehensive quality analysis. Use when designing test strategies, conducting test retrospectives, analyzing test failures, evaluating testing approaches, or facilitating testing discussions. Each hat provides a distinct testing perspective: facts (White), risks (Black), benefits (Yellow), creativity (Green), emotions (Red), and process (Blue).
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name
six-thinking-hats
description
Apply Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats methodology to software testing for comprehensive quality analysis. Use when designing test strategies, conducting test retrospectives, analyzing test failures, evaluating testing approaches, or facilitating testing discussions. Each hat provides a distinct testing perspective: facts (White), risks (Black), benefits (Yellow), creativity (Green), emotions (Red), and process (Blue).
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When analyzing testing decisions:
DEFINE focus clearly (specific testing question)
APPLY each hat sequentially (5 min each)
DOCUMENT insights per hat
SYNTHESIZE into action plan
Quick Hat Rotation (30 min):
🤍 WHITE (5 min) - Facts only: metrics, data, coverage
❤️ RED (3 min) - Gut feelings (no justification needed)
🖤 BLACK (7 min) - Risks, gaps, what could go wrong
💛 YELLOW (5 min) - Strengths, opportunities, what works
💚 GREEN (7 min) - Creative ideas, alternatives
🔵 BLUE (3 min) - Action plan, next steps
Example Output:
Coverage: 67% line, 45% branch
Test Suite: 1,247 unit, 156 integration, 23 E2E
Execution Time: Unit 3min, Integration 12min, E2E 45min
Defects: 23 open (5 critical, 8 major, 10 minor)
🖤 Black Hat - Risks & Cautions
Output: Comprehensive risk assessment
Questions:
What could go wrong in production?
What are we NOT testing?
What assumptions might be wrong?
Where are the coverage gaps?
HIGH RISKS:
- No load testing (production outage risk)
- Auth edge cases untested (security vulnerability)
- Database failover never tested (data loss risk)
💛 Yellow Hat - Benefits & Optimism
Output: Strengths and opportunities
Questions:
What's working well?
What strengths can we leverage?
What quick wins are available?
STRENGTHS:
- Strong CI/CD pipeline
- Team expertise in automation
- Stakeholders value quality
QUICK WINS:
- Add smoke tests (reduce incidents)
- Automate manual regression (save 2 days/release)
💚 Green Hat - Creativity
Output: Innovative testing ideas
Questions:
How else could we test this?
What if we tried something completely different?
What emerging techniques could we adopt?
IDEAS:
1. AI-powered test generation
2. Chaos engineering for resilience
3. Property-based testing for edge cases
4. Production traffic replay
5. Synthetic monitoring
❤️ Red Hat - Emotions
Output: Team gut feelings (NO justification needed)
Questions:
How confident do you feel about quality?
What makes you anxious?
What gives you confidence?
FEELINGS:
- Confident: Unit tests, API tests
- Anxious: Authentication flow, payment processing
- Frustrated: Flaky tests, slow E2E suite
🔵 Blue Hat - Process
Output: Action plan with owners and timelines
Questions:
What's our strategy?
How should we prioritize?
What's the next step?
PRIORITIZED ACTIONS:
1. [Critical] Address security testing gap - Owner: Alice
2. [High] Implement contract testing - Owner: Bob
3. [Medium] Reduce flaky tests - Owner: Carol
Session Templates
Solo Session (30 min)
# Six Hats Analysis: [Topic]## 🤍 White Hat (5 min)
Facts: [list metrics, data]
## ❤️ Red Hat (3 min)
Feelings: [gut reactions, no justification]
## 🖤 Black Hat (7 min)
Risks: [what could go wrong]
## 💛 Yellow Hat (5 min)
Strengths: [what works, opportunities]
## 💚 Green Hat (7 min)
Ideas: [creative alternatives]
## 🔵 Blue Hat (3 min)
Actions: [prioritized next steps]
aqe/six-hats/
├── analyses/* - Complete hat analyses
├── risks/* - Black hat findings
├── opportunities/* - Yellow hat findings
└── innovations/* - Green hat ideas
Fleet Coordination
const analysisFleet = awaitFleetManager.coordinate({
strategy: 'six-hats-analysis',
agents: [
'qe-quality-analyzer', // White + Blue hats'qe-regression-risk-analyzer', // Black hat'qe-test-generator'// Green hat
],
topology: 'parallel'
});
