EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
17th August 1997

"DESIGN CONFERENCE ON NORTHERN IRELAND"

On 1st September a Design Conference on Northern Ireland will commence on this website. A 'holding' conference for the publication of views takes place with immediate effect.

The Negotiation Conference on Northern Ireland arranged by the British Government is scheduled to commence on September 15, 1997.

Our traditional method of problem solving is excellent. We analyse the problem and seek to identify the cause of the problem. Then we remove the cause of the problem and the problem is thereby solved. This method works very well where it works. But sometimes we cannot find the cause. Or there are so many causes that they cannot all be removed. In such cases we are more or less paralysed. More and yet more analysis will not solve those problems. there is a need to design a way forward leaving the cause in place. We are excellent at analysis because that is part of our traditional thinking culture. We are very poor at design because that has not been part of our thinking culture. Design needs creativity and lateral thinking. Our habit of augument was never intended to find out what can be but only to discover what is .

A design conference is totally different from a Negotiating Conference. A Design Conference does not seek to reach binding agrreement. The purpose of a Design Conference is to develop more concepts and new ways forward. There is no compelling force in a Design Conference. But a thought once thought can never be unthought.

It would be unfair to suggest that elements of design do not enter into a Negotiating Conference. But the emphasis is more on being right and having rights.

There are two important principles:

• Everyone is always right.
• No one is ever right.

There was a fellow who painted half his car black and the other half white. When his friends asked him the reason behind the bizarre paint job, he replied:
"Because it is so much fun hearing the witnesses contradict each other whenever I have an accident".

One witness would recount how a black car came round the corner. Another witness would disagree and say that it was a white car etc. etc...

In most arguments both parties are right. But each is looking at a different part of the situation, different values or different principles.

Some years ago I invented the term logic bubble. Everybody acts very intelligently within his or her own logic bubble. The logic bubbles are made up of perceptions and value.

A principle could say that violence should never be rewarded and should never be allowed to achieve political aims.

A principle could say that in a democratic system the will of the majority pervails even if the minority think that unfair.

A principle could say that when the British withdraw from a land they had occupied for eight hundred years they did not fully withdraw.

It is possible to pick principles that support almost any line of argument.

In the end there may be three important considerations:

1. The talent, intelligence and hardwork of the people in a country can never provide the benefits they should provide if the country is unhappily divided.
2. That whatever the origins of the division might be there is a need to find a constructive way forward.
3. That most people in Northern Ireland would agree with the above two principles.

It might not be possible to design a constructive way forward. But there is value in trying. That is the purpose of the Design Conference - as a contribution to a constructive way forward.

There will be three concentric rings. The outer ring or Level 1(initially a 'holding' conference) is now open. The two inner rings, Levels 2 and 3 will be effective from 1st September 1997.

1. Anyone can contribute suggestions to the outer ring (Level 1 / Holding Conference). This will be done by completing the input form accessed from the index to Chapter 10 (see Input to Level1 Conference). These contributions will then be processed and displayed periodically as webpages in Chapter 10.
2. Those contributors to the outer ring (Level 1 / Holding Conference) who show a constructive and creative frame of mind will be invited into the middle ring (Level 2). This level of the conference will take place on the Edward de Bono Creative Team^TM Conference system. Contributors will automatically be given individual usernames and passwords to enter this system.
3. The best of the contributors to the middle ring will be invited to enter the inner ring (Level 3). Official representatives of government and political parties will automatically qualify for access to the inner ring. In the inner ring conference dialogue, discussion and joint design effort become possible.

The middle and inner ring conferences will be private to the members with access to the Conferencing System.

All contributions will be anonymous. The copyright of the material published on the website and in the Conference system remains with the author of the material. In order to protect this in the first instance copyright also lies with the Edward de Bono Creative Team^TM.

Publication of material on this website is at the discretion of the conference host. Material which is not constructive or is simply accusatory will not be published or erased as the case may be. The conference host will also have the right to remove members from the two inner ring conferences.

If the quality of contribution is good enough the final output might be published as a book under the title "New Thinking for Northern Ireland".

In addition, I reserve the right to give a personal award for contributions which are practical, effective and original. No awards may be granted if the quality of contributions does not merit an award. The award is entirely personal on my part. The awards would be $1,000 for a member of the Edward de Bono Creative Team^TM and $250 for a non-member.

Constructive Thinking frameworks may be suggested from time to time in order to facilitate more creative thinking.

Edward de Bono
16th August 1997
Malta