How to use PMI in Decision Making, Practical Thinking and Creativity

PMI is a thinking technique promoted by Edward de Bono.

According to Wikipedia Edward de Bono is a Maltese physician, psychologist, author, inventor, philosopher and consultant. He originated the term lateral thinking, wrote the books like: Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, Serious Creativity, Tactics: The Art and Science of Success. He is a proponent of the teaching of thinking as a subject in schools.

Simply put PMI stands for Pluses , Minuses and Interesting Points. 

Many of us depending on our emotional mood, thinking habits, an agenda we might have a given time tend to take a position on a subject, point of view. Then we do our best to to defend that point of view or find ways to prove that we are right.

Another approach is to start with a conclusion and then to come up with supporting evidence.

Edward De Bono calls this the Intelligence Trap. Often the more intelligent one is the more one is able to find arguments in support of his position.
Dr de Bono says that “You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper.” Unfortunately intelligent people tend to get good at being expert diggers of single deeper and deeper holes.

To counteract this Intelligence Trap danger de Bono suggests to use PMI.

Plus Points of PMI Stage

Here look at and for:

What do we Like or Love about this Idea / Course of Action?
What are Upsides of this Plan/Strategy?
What's Great about this point of View?
What are the Benefits and Advantages of this approach?

Minus Points of PMI Stage 

Here we look at and for:

What do we Dislike or Hate about this Idea / Course of Action?
What are the Downsides of this Plan/Strategy?
What's Bad/Harmful about this point of View?
What are the Drawbacks and Disadvantages of this approach?

Interesting Points of PMI Stage

Here we look at and for:

What's Interesting about this Idea / Course of Action?
What is Intriguing about this Plan/Strategy?
What's Fascinating about this point of View?
What is Curious about this approach?

Usually in Decision Making we have to evaluate and choose among different Choices. Before discarding or favoring any oh the Options we could use the PMI thinking tool to examine the Options from different Angles.

Creativity involves also generating ideas, possibilities.  In the selection phase of Creativity process we could likewise use PMI to enhance the quality of our ideas.

In everyday thinking situations it is of practical use to PMI technique in order to avoin the Intelligence Trap and dig ourselves into deeper and deeper holes,

Other posts about decision making:

• Elements + Steps of Decision Making & How to Solve Problems;
• Decision Making, Buridan's Ass 🐴, FOMO and the Rabbits 🐇;
• Common Mistakes in Decision Making and Problem Solving;
• Effective Decision Making by Peter Drucker Review ;
• 5 Decisions to Build your Character and Have a Better Life;