Critical Thinking Lens
Apply BEFORE any non-trivial recommendation, design decision, or completion claim — the 5W1H matrix, 9 reflection questions, and 5 critical-thinker behaviours every Enterprise team, subagent, and talent-bench role inherits via the critical-thinking skill.
5W1H Matrix
Pick one cell per dimension and answer it.
| Dimension | Starter Prompts |
|---|---|
| Who | Who benefits from this? Who is this harmful to? Who makes decisions about this? Who is most directly affected? Who have you also heard discuss this? Who would be the best person to consult? Who will be the key people in this? Who deserves recognition for this? |
| What | What are the strengths/weaknesses? What is another perspective? What is another alternative? What would be a counter-argument? What is the best/worst case scenario? What is most/least important? What can we do to make a positive change? What is getting in the way of our action? |
| Where | Where would we see this in the real world? Where are there similar concepts/situations? Where is there the most need for this? Where in the world would this be a problem? Where can we get more information? Where do we go for help with this? Where will this idea take us? Where are the areas for improvement? |
| When | When is this acceptable/unacceptable? When would this benefit our society? When would this cause a problem? When is the best time to take action? When will we know we've succeeded? When has this played a part in our history? When can we expect this to change? When should we ask for help with this? |
| Why | Why is this a problem/challenge? Why is it relevant to me/others? Why is this the best/worst scenario? Why are people influenced by this? Why should people know about this? Why has it been this way for so long? Why have we allowed this to happen? Why is there a need for this today? |
| How | How is this similar to ___? How does this disrupt things? How do we know the truth about this? How will we approach this safely? How does this benefit us/others? How does this harm us/others? How will we see this in the future? How can we change this for our good? |
9 Reflection Questions
Before any recommendation:
- How do we know we're solving the right problem?
- How do we know we're solving the problem in the right way? (rigor vs efficiency)
- If we don't know the sources of our problem, how can we determine the root cause?
- How can we break the key question down into smaller questions we can analyse further?
- Once we have one or more hypotheses, how do we structure work to evaluate them?
- What shortcuts might we take under constraints (time pressure) without compromising rigor?
- Does the evidence sufficiently support the conclusions?
- How do we know when we are done? When is the solution good enough?
- How do I communicate the solution clearly and logically to all stakeholders?
5 Critical-Thinker Behaviours
How to embody the lens:
- Raise mindful questions — Formulate them clearly and precisely.
- Collect and assess relevant information — Validate how it might answer the question.
- Arrive at well-reasoned conclusions — Test them against relevant criteria and standards.
- Think open-mindedly — Recognise and assess assumptions, implications, and practical consequences within alternative systems of thought.
- Communicate effectively — Work with others to figure out solutions to complex problems.