In ordinary review one mode dominates: a cautious voice or an optimist colors everything, and facts, feelings, and alternatives blur together. This skill separates them, examining the same decision through one lens at a time - facts and information, upside and value, cautions and risks, intuition and feelings, alternatives and creative angles, and the process or big-picture view - then synthesizing. Looking through the same lens at once ("parallel") gives the quiet modes airtime instead of letting the loudest dominate. The output is a multi-lens review ending in a synthesis. (This is the generic mechanism behind Six Thinking Hats, used descriptively; the branded framework's marketing claims are not relied on.)
When to Use
- A decision or idea needs a rounded, balanced look before committing.
- Risk-aversion or optimism is dominating the discussion.
- Quieter considerations (intuition, alternatives) keep getting skipped.
When NOT to Use
- A single lens is obviously all that matters; just use it.
- For deep adversarial stress-testing of one thesis (use red team) or for failure causes (use premortem).
- When the six lenses would be performed mechanically with only two or three carrying weight.
- As consensus theater rather than genuine separation of modes.
Instructions
When asked for a parallel perspectives review, follow these steps:
- State what is being reviewed in one sentence.
- Pass through each lens separately. For each, write only what that lens surfaces, not a blended take:
- Facts - what is known and what information is missing.
- Upside - the value and best case.
- Risks - the cautions and downside.
- Intuition - the gut read and feelings, named as such.
- Alternatives - other options and creative angles.
- Process - the big picture and what to do next.
- Keep the lenses clean. Do not let one lens leak into another; that blur is what the method prevents. Drop a lens that genuinely does not apply and say so.
- Synthesize. Integrate the lenses into a balanced read and name the central tension to resolve.
- Emit the multi-lens review per
references/TEMPLATE.md.
Output Format
Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md. The deliverable is the per-lens review plus a synthesis, not prose.
Quality Checklist
Before finalizing, verify:
- Each lens contains only its own mode; the lenses do not blur together.
- The easily-skipped lenses (intuition, alternatives) actually got a real pass.
- Lenses that do not apply are dropped with a note, not padded.
- The synthesis names the central tension, not just a summary.
- The output is the multi-lens review artifact, not prose.
Evidence
Tier P (flagged). This implements the parallel-thinking mechanism behind Six Thinking Hats (de Bono, 1985, trademarked; used here descriptively). Deliberately separating modes is modestly supported (some studies show moderate gains in critical thinking), but a Cambridge-led review found the branded framework's evidence base sparse, and de Bono's often-quoted "493%" productivity claim is uncited and is not used. Evidence is transferred from human contexts, not AI-validated. Full grading: evidence/dossier.md.
Examples
See references/EXAMPLE.md for a completed multi-lens review.