The six thinking hats are a technique that I found when reading this Lifehacker post. Here is how I would apply it to making decisions when coding applications.

White Hat

The site says:

With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them.

This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.

Application to programming:

Look at the features of similar applications and how people react to those features. If you are coding a social network, what features do people really like or don’t like about Facebook? Which features from Facebook should you put in your social network?

Red Hat

The site says:

‘Wearing’ the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

Application to programming:

Not this red hat :D. This is where you have to make sure that the user interface of your application is good. If you are making a terminal utility, are the commands easy to remember and spell?

Black Hat

The site says:

Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them.

Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans ‘tougher’ and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.

Application to programming:

Ironically, a black hat can refer to a malicious computer hacker. However, the black hat way of thinking is what you need to see what features can bring what security holes. This is seriously important and you should spend the most time in this sort of thinking.

Yellow Hat

The site says:

The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

Application to programming:

This one is a bit difficult. I would say that the yellow hat would help you decide what features you could code into the application if you have extra time before the deadline

Green Hat

The site says:

The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

Application to programming:

The green hat is what you use for coming up with innovative features. The green hat, after the black hat, is probably the second most important “hat” that you will be needing to think with. It’s the innovative feature that makes people like an application. People went crazy over iPods because of the good looks (red hat) as well as the “click wheel” (green hat). Instead of having traditional button controls, Apple came up with a new way to navigate a list of songs.

Blue Hat

What the site says:

The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.

Application to programming:

The blue hat is another difficult one. It probably be used most often by people managing a coding project.