Merlin - de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique when used properly. You’re right - it can tedious if misapplied - say to a decision about where to have lunch ;^)

But for big issues, projects, and other group discussion topics it really does lead to better group-think, reduced tension and emotionalism,and more productive interactions. In my company, a side benefit of having trained the entire company in the method is that it has become part of our lexicon. It’s not uncommon to hear someone say in conversation, “I’m just green-hatting here,” (implying creative brainstorming mode) or “This is red hat,” (denoting a purely emotional, visceral response to what was just said without the need to justify or support the impending statement).

We even do it in e-mail to mark off points being made using HTML-style tags as in:

What if we were to delay the release until we hit a certain threshold of bug reports fixed?

It’s pretty powerful stuff - especially if you’re part of an organization that includes smart, opinionated people. It cuts down on the noise level very effectively.