Framing a good How Might We (HMW) question is key to a creative ideation session. If you ask a triggering question, you can find many creative ideas to answer it. Although there are some elements to a good How Might We question, trying out different formulation is a great way to start. We suggest to write different variations on a paper or use sticky-notes and marker and compare them next to each other.

Remember that the goal here is to frame a problem statement from the user’s perspective and based on the need that you have uncovered. You can also define different HMW questions for different needs and pick the one that you are most curious or excited about!

Elements of a good HMW question:

It should not suggest a solution:

This sounds quite straightforward, but you would be surprised to see how many questions end up having a solution in the formulation!

Example: How might we help Lina to use a step by step process to sign up for a gym?

The problem with this question is that it is pointing at one possible solution and would limit your creativity when it comes to generating ideas. Let’s try to broaden our possibilities by changing the question to:

How might we help Lina to adapt a healthy training routine in her life?

In this version, the step by step approach to sign up for a gym may be only one of the possible solutions, but this formulation will allow for enough creative space to come up with diverse ideas.

It should contain the user, their problem/context and their need/pain point

Our goal is to formulate a new problem statement based on the user’s perspective. Therefore it is crucial to have the user’s need or pain point in the new problem statement.

Example: How might we increase our customer savings?

This type of question is very generic and doesn’t reflect the user’s perspective. Let’s bring in the need and context into the statement:

How might we help Lena to save money in a seamless way, in a world where daily responsibilities take all her time?

How might we help Lena save money in a seamless way, because there are so many responsibilities she faces daily?

It should not be too broad or too narrow

If the question is too narrow it will suggest a small pool of solutions, however if it is too broad it will be difficult to brainstorm for solutions. We need a good balance that will give us enough creative freedom. The HMW question should be broad enough to offer range of ideas but narrow enough so that concrete ideas and solutions can be created for it.

It should contain emotional language

Adding emotional language to our problem statement will help us to try to empathize more with our user and show the urgency of the problem. It brings the user to life for us. Emotional language means that you provide a context that makes us aware of the user’s problem or struggle and invites us to empathize with her. Compare the following statements:

How might we help Mina to save money seamlessly?
How might we help Mina, a busy single mother of two, to save money seamlessly?

The latter paints a picture of the challenges that our user, Mina, is going through, and therefore may encourage us to think about different ideas to help her.

In the next section we present you with several HMW questions and ask you to evaluate them based on the above mentioned criteria.