New site for practising thinking

I was becoming aware that work on my regular project was taking too long and that there is a need to address the gap of software for thinking rather more urgently. So I've just spent two weeks and two days on developing a website to get something happening.

It's far from perfect: The name "Functional Thinking" is only a working title - it seems in any case to be used previously.

I'm sure there are bugs that will become apparent through user testing.

I don't have any agreement with de Bono to use his tools so I refer people who want more than basic details to CortThinking.com. I am aware of Graeme Allan's excellent description of the CoRT tools at New Millenium Thinking but since he isn't charging money I assume that de Bono would prefer visitors to go to the other site.

Whether EdB likes the idea of his tools next to other peoples': I doubt it, but I really don't want to create an exclusive enclave that says "do it de Bono's way or nick off". After some practical experience with tools from different sources I imagine that people who otherwise would will start to appreciate the de Bono tools.

Give it a go...

http://www.practisethinking.com

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Permalink Reply by Gijs van Beeck Calkoen on July 17, 2011 at 20:42
The site is a very nice place to stay. It is big fun, better than Sudoko puzzles!

How would it develop? C&S?
Permalink Reply by Phil Bachmann on July 17, 2011 at 21:09
HI Gijs,

Perhaps you enjoy thinking because you're good at it - I like reading your answers.

Re the link, I think you meant: C & S
Permalink Reply by Phil Bachmann on July 18, 2011 at 2:14
Hello Luis,

I can see that, at least by some measure, you are something of high achiever.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you compete at www.practisethinking.com against some of the top people from the de Bono Society.
Permalink Reply by Kim Jones on July 18, 2011 at 4:25
Luis,

I imagine you would get a lot from Phil's site, if you haven't tried it yet. The reason I say this is because it seems to be one of the few places on the Net explicitly set up for actual thinking practice. The dBS is indeed a society, with all the pitfalls of societies including the tendency for people to simply want to hangout with a certain type of human and blather on about a variety of things as much as learn or contribute anything useful. That's OK. This seems to be about the best we can manage. We are the "Green Room" of thinkers, if you will.

You stated somewhere or other that you are in the employment business, your job is to find ways of assessing the employability of people, perhaps youngsters, was that it?

Even if vaguely true, this places you in the class of strategic thinker for which thinking tools only make sense when deployed somehow. Sitting around talking about their use in the Green Room does not lead to skill at their use.

When you hop on Phil's site, you will find that not much thinking is accessible to you. The trick is to contribute some thinking, then the door opens and you can see the contributions of all the thinkers who have already addressed the thinking topic.

The core idea is that all strategic thinking works as input - function - output. Computation, in fact. Clear thinking involves knowing or clearly specifying the function that the thinking is using. Many de Bono tools are functions; there are others, you can practice them all.

If there is any assessment, it is all self-assessment, since every "I" that contributes gets to measure him/herself against all the other "I"s that went before.

There are no rules or agreements or anything. Just upload thinking areas and explore the universe of Parallel Thinking.

Many people have found it infectious, because not only can you respond to topics already set up, you can propose topics then monitor how others demonstrate their thinking on your topic. Enjoy!
Permalink Reply by Phil Bachmann on July 18, 2011 at 20:21
Hi Luis,

Yes there was a bit of confusion - I didn't realise you'd been to the site because here you called yourself Edgardo and there you were Luis. Also, while you may well have done the practise items, you don't appear to have pressed the Submit button so people can't read your work and you can't read theirs.

I believe the practise thinking site addresses your desire for firm goals and collaborative thinking - some of the questions are real problems involving real people.

As for the de Bono Society, it is teeming with gentle, insightful people and is the best place to make friends among people who like to explore. I can guarantee that no one is trying to get rid of you.
Permalink Reply by Gijs van Beeck Calkoen on July 19, 2011 at 8:42

What an enterprise to set up in Cambodia. 
I remember a case in Cambodia where the Six Thinking Hat was used. I picked it up from de Bono´s site. Maybe it is useful or encouraging:

From: Simon Batchelor, a water engineer and an aid worker in Cambodia. He used the Six Hats methodology to involve the Khmer villagers in a water drilling project.
Batchelor designed and ran a pilot Agriculture, Business and Community Development Programme (ABCD) to help the Khmer people to return to and rebuild their villages after many years of war and genocide.
The stated goal was "to increase people's ability to initiate change and make choices in an environment of loving relationships". Self organising, speaking out, and initiating change are neither natural nor easy for Khmer villagers. Rural cultural norms, religious beliefs, and the execution of intellectuals and educared people by the Khmer Rouge in the late '70s combine to make villagers hesitant and fearful of such activity.
Food, Water & Health Crises
Fragile food production, inadequate water supplies and a poor health system plagued the region. Each village had but one water source. Health insurance was non-existant and individual sickness meant total economic failure for the whole family.
Friere's Methods and de Bono's "Magic"
Batchelor built ABCD on the work of the Brazilian educator Paulo Friere, who suggested that poverty was very much rooted in attitude and awareness.
Applying Friere's methods Batchelor trained 19 Cambodians to become a part of a village, build relationships with people, facilitate open meetings and planning meetings with 5-person committees, and reflect villagers concerns back to them with through pictures.
"The biggest problem", said Batchelor, "came in teaching the 19 'animators' how to ask open questions - how to get the villagers thinking, ideas and priorities out on the table - without imposing an outside agenda. That's when I turned to the Six Thinking Hats, and it worked magic".
Evaluating Staff, Reframing Problems & Goals
"I started by using the Hats to run my staff meetings with the 'animators' who took the techniques back to their villages. They were thrilled to have some concrete tools that worked. I began using Hats to debrief and evaluate animators when I visited their worksites. I could ask them to tell me two Blue Hat questions they asked their committee, and their response gave me a good sense of how well they understood and played their role in the community."
ABCD staff eventually realised that the main problem standing in the way of village empowerment was an almost total reliance by villagers on Red, Black, and White thinking. Many wanted to restate their main programme goal as "increasing skills and use of Blue, Green and Yellow Hat thinking among Khmer villagers".
Dramatic Results
Each village now has 20 or more water points. Over 1,000 water pumps have been installed and are being used. Three volunteers have started a family planning clinic that has the highest usage of any clinic in the country. Villagers are implementing food security solutions. One village met without the animator and created its own "health insurance" association - a regional first.

 

Good luck.

 

Permalink Reply by Franis on July 19, 2011 at 10:53
~like~
Gijs - thanks for remembering about this story...
Permalink Reply by Franis on July 18, 2011 at 13:10
Every time I show up there, Phil has added another interesting thinking function.

I wonder if Phil will have to group the questions or the functions...because once people discover it offers advice - it's going to be swamped.

As people use the site, it gets more interesting. Soon I'm going to leak it out at the www.gocreate.com site.
Then you'll be in big trouble Phil. Tell me when you're ready for that...
Permalink Reply by Phil Bachmann on July 18, 2011 at 20:22
Hi Franis,

Thanks as always for the support.

Give me a couple of weeks.
Permalink Reply by Asa Jomard on July 18, 2011 at 21:41
Phil,
Weeks!
What sort of weeks? Can we use Mercury weeks, which means that it should have been ready yesterday?
Permalink Reply by Phil Bachmann on July 18, 2011 at 22:08
Hi Asa,

Maybe the site should be promoted more generally now, though I've found non-de Bono people complain about: 1 Not having enough information about tools in order to proceed and 2. Not seeing obvious benefits.

Hopefully I can improve those areas in coming weeks, though I don't know whether it will actually make a difference in terms of engagement.

Your idea of rewarding people with money has possibilities - and certainly something that is coming soon.
Permalink Reply by Asa Jomard on July 18, 2011 at 22:25
"Your idea of rewarding people with money has possibilities - and certainly something that is coming soon."

Which idea? I clearly need to write my ideas down!

About benefits - you need someone to write an introduction to the site and tell them about the brain benefits. People believe everything when you add neurons to it. Then they can observe it - error of perception!

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