In my last post on facilitation, I shared some general principles for facilitating technical outcomes in software teams. Much of the focus was on creating just the right atmosphere so that team members shared their opinions and made thoughtful, team-based decisions.

In this post, I want to share Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hat model and how it can help you in facilitating much richer discussions surrounding your technical decision-making. But first I want to share another facilitative model with you. It’s more of a dynamic that occurs within individuals and teams who are trying to create new products, solve new problems, add features, or in general compete in their respective markets with creative solutions that drive customer value.