A Guide to How Might We Statements
How Might We Use these Statements for Activating User Research
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I hope I am not the only one who has felt the sting after spending hours and hours on a research report and crafting insights only to have it either ignored or pushed over to the side. It is a horrible feeling, especially when you know the insights could help improve the product/service so much.
But, it can be really difficult to get colleagues to listen to insights or to get them to rearrange their work to include your findings on a roadmap or in the next sprint. Even if it seemed obvious to me, it wasn’t always the case with others.
For a long time, I just kept repeating the same cycle of creating reports and watching most of the work go unused. Sometimes people listened, sometimes they didn’t. The inconsistency really confused me and I figured it was because some of my work was just better or more appealing.
But I knew that it wasn’t realistic for my career. I couldn’t just leave it up to chance whether or not people would listen to my work. I had to find a better way to ensure my insights were recognized and utilized.
This meant, at first, I held a lot of meetings in which I read and reread reports, presented findings, had follow-ups, and supplied plenty of colleagues with lots of coffee. However, I kept coming back to the same issue.
My colleagues understood the insights and they found (most of) them interesting and important, but we kept getting caught at the same crossroads:
“So, what do we do next?”
To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer this question. I figured, as a researcher, I had done what I had to do and it was up to my team to figure out the next steps.
However, I came to realize this wasn’t the best way to collaborate with teams and I was missing a huge part of what I came to later learn was the activation portion of my role. In this part of the process, I would work together with teams to bring the insights from the problem-space to solution-land. Without this guidance, teams often felt unsure how to move forward from insights, especially if they were on the more abstract side of things.
Over time, I picked up several ways to activate user research insights, but one of the first and one of my favorite ways to collaborate with teams when it comes to this part of the process is How Might We Statements.
What are How Might We Statements?
How Might We statements are small but mighty questions that help us with bringing insights that are currently in the problem-space to a place where teams can start thinking of solutions.
HWM statements are originally part of the Design Thinking approach. This method of questioning allows for the teams to take the research into the ideation phase.
As I mentioned above, it can be really difficult to go from presenting your insights to helping the team to create something from those insights, especially if the insights feel more abstract and are large, generative-based findings. Often, teams can feel overwhelmed trying to navigate this situation and can feel stuck bringing insights to life.
How Might We statements are a fantastic way to frame the problem/insight in a way that spurs creativity and solution-based thinking, all with a user-centric focus.
Why are they called "How Might We's?"
There is a reason why these three special words were chosen for this approach. Each of these words holds a key into the innovative and collaborative nature of How Might We statements:
"How" suggests that we do not yet have the answer. It allows us to consider multiple avenues for innovation and reinforces that we are still exploring the problem and solution space.
"Might" emphasizes that there are many different paths we can go down when thinking about solutions. This allows for open-minded creativity and brainstorming and thinking about the problem from multiple perspectives. This "might" is where innovation becomes part of the process!
"We" immediately brings in the idea of teamwork. "We" should all work collaboratively to come up with a joint understanding of the problem and put our heads together to come up with a joint solution.
Using these three words can help open your team up to innovation, creativity, and, most importantly, using your insights to create user-centric solutions.
The Benefits of Using How Might We Statements
It might already be obvious how beneficial How Might We statements can be, but just in case you might meet resistance with stakeholders, it’s important to really understand what using these statements can truly achieve.
These statements help to stimulate creative thinking and collaboration in a team by framing insights or user-centered problems as open-ended questions. They encourage teams to think beyond conventional solutions, while still focusing on users. Instead of picking a problem from scratch or using an idea that came to someone in the shower, How Might We’s empower you to take direct insights and problems from reach and turn them into questions the team can answer with creative solutions.
How Might We’s not only inspire creativity and help ensure research is properly used, but they also give so many other benefits, such as:
Encourages Positivity and Motivation
Shifts Perspective: HMW statements reframe challenges as opportunities, encouraging teams to view obstacles not as insurmountable problems but as chances to innovate and improve. This shift in perspective can transform the team's approach to challenges, leading to more positive and productive outcomes.
Maintains Morale: By focusing on possibilities rather than limitations, HMW statements help maintain a high level of morale among team members, even when tackling difficult issues. This optimistic outlook is contagious and can uplift the entire team's spirit.
Fosters Collaborative Inclusivity
Democratizes the Ideation Process: HMW statements invite input from all members of a team, regardless of their role or level of experience. This inclusivity ensures that a diverse range of perspectives is considered, enriching the ideation process.
Levels the Playing Field: By framing challenges as open-ended questions, HMW statements create a neutral space where all ideas are valued equally. This can empower quieter team members or those who might typically feel marginalized, encouraging them to share their insights and contribute more actively.
Encourages Co-creation: HMW statements naturally facilitate collaborative brainstorming sessions, where team members build on each other's ideas. This co-creation process not only generates more innovative solutions but also fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among team members.
Breaks Down Silos: By bringing together diverse groups within an organization to answer a common question, HMW statements can help break down silos. They encourage cross-functional collaboration, leading to more holistic and well-rounded solutions.
Enhances Flexibility
Adaptable to Various Contexts: The versatility of HMW statements means they can be applied across different stages of product development, organizational change, service design, and more. This flexibility allows teams to use them as a tool for a wide array of challenges.
Promotes Agile Thinking: In today’s fast-paced work environments, the ability to quickly pivot and adapt is crucial. HMW statements support agile thinking by keeping the problem space open and fluid, enabling teams to explore multiple solutions and adapt their strategies as needed.
Stimulates Creativity
Invites Diverse Solutions: The open-ended nature of HMW statements encourages creative thinking and invites a wide range of solutions. This openness can lead to innovative ideas that might not emerge through more conventional problem-solving methods.
Prevents Premature Convergence: Often, teams rush to converge on a solution too quickly, which can stifle creativity. HMW statements keep the exploration space wide open, preventing premature convergence and encouraging a thorough exploration of possibilities.
Builds a Research Culture
Encourages Experimentation: HMW statements promote a culture where experimentation is valued as part of the learning process. They support the idea that not every attempt has to be successful as long as it provides insights and learning that can lead to better solutions.
Facilitates Reflective Practice: The process of working with HMW statements encourages teams to reflect on their assumptions, question established norms, and continuously seek improvements. This reflective practice is a cornerstone of a learning culture, driving ongoing innovation and growth.
Puts Research at the Forefront
Uses User-Centric Ideas. Instead of the common “what should we do next” question or “I had an idea in the shower” statement, How Might We’s encourage teams to build on findings and insights from user research. This means the work is based on the users’ needs and pain points, and will have a powerful impact.
Brings Teams from Problems to Solutions. If you have ever struggled with activating insights, How Might We’s give you the chance to help teams go from problems to solutions while still maintaining creativity and the user at the center of the idea.
As I said, How Might We statements are powerful little questions! They not only help us with bringing creativity to our work, but they can also empower cross-departmental collaboration, innovation, and help us work toward building a solid research culture at an organization.
Now let’s dive into how you can craft these statements and integrate them into your process in an efficient way!
Crafting Effective How Might We Statements
Characteristics of How Might We Statements
Although How Might We’s are small questions, they do need to be written in a way that strikes a delicate balance between breadth and focus, inviting a wide range of creative solutions while being specific enough to direct efforts toward actionable outcomes. That’s a lot to think about at once and, trust me, I made a lot of mistakes in my earlier How Might We statements. After many years of using these statements, here are the best practices I use whenever I am formulating my How Might We statements:
1. User-Centric
Focuses on User Needs: A well-crafted HMW statement always centers around the needs, pain points, or desires of the target user group. It's grounded in empathy and a deep understanding of the user experience, ensuring that the solutions developed are genuinely useful and relevant.
Example: "How might we help new parents easily track their baby’s sleep patterns?"
2. Broad Yet Specific
Invites Creativity: The statement is open-ended enough to encourage a broad exploration of ideas, avoiding premature limitation on the types of solutions that can be considered. It welcomes innovation from any direction.
Retains a Clear Focus: While being open, HMW statements must have a clear focus area or challenge that guides ideation towards relevant and actionable solutions. It needs to be specific enough to prevent aimless wandering during brainstorming sessions.
Example: "How might we make our public transportation system more accessible to people with disabilities?"
3. Action-Oriented
Implies Action: The point of HMW statements is to encourage action and suggest that there is a solution to be found. It needs to be formulated in a way that gets the team thinking about the steps they can take to address the challenge.
Example: "How might we reduce the time customers spend waiting in line at our stores?"
4. Inspiring and Engaging
Sparks Interest: An effective HMW statement is inspiring; it should energize the team and provoke curiosity. It’s crafted in a way that makes people excited to start exploring solutions.
Example: "How might we transform our workspace to boost creativity and collaboration?"
5. Addresses a Real Challenge
Based on Insight: The statement should stem from real user insights or identified business challenges. It's not based on assumptions but on verified needs, ensuring that the solutions developed are grounded in reality.
Example: "How might we integrate sustainable practices into our product lifecycle to meet our environmental goals?"
6. Ambiguous Enough to Explore
Allows for Exploration: While being focused, the statement should also leave room for interpretation, allowing the team to explore different angles and perspectives. This ambiguity encourages a deeper dive into the problem, often leading to more innovative solutions.
Example: "How might we reimagine online education to better engage students?"
It took a lot of practice to feel comfortable writing How Might We’s that encapsulated all of these different characteristics. It was a lot of trial and error, and I recommend giving yourself the space to try and experiment with your statements. Trying to balance all these points at once can feel overwhelming but, with practice, it becomes more natural and intuitive.
The key is to craft a question that is sufficiently broad to open the door to innovative, unexpected solutions, yet sufficiently focused to ensure that the solutions are relevant and actionable. This allows the question to guide the ideation process in a productive direction but without being too blue-sky.
Let’s now dive into how we can write these statements effectively.
Writing How Might We Statements
One of the biggest mistakes I made with How Might We statements was either going way too broad or too narrow — it felt like it took me forever to write a HMW that was right in the middle and struck that amazing balance I’d been searching for. Once I felt more confident and comfortable with creating How Might We statements, I moved over to teaching others how to write them.
I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to explain something that seemed so small and simple. But, over time, I created a step-by-step process I use and teach to others who are looking to write impactful How Might We statements:
Step 1: Gather Insights and Identify Problems
Start with user research, customer feedback, and team insights to identify the pain points or needs that have come from recent research. This step is absolutely critical to creating effective How Might We’s as the entire point of them is to base them on user-centric data. Without this step, the team is just creating ideas from nothing.
This step comes after you’ve done the research and prioritized the most important and unaddressed pain points and needs from the research. You can do this through affinity diagrams.
An Example Problem: Users feel anxious about managing their finances.
Step 2: Define the Core Problem or Opportunity
Once you identify the most important and unaddressed needs and pain points, it’s time to choose some to turn into problem statements. A point-of-view (POV)/problem statement allows you to focus on your users and their needs. You can create a problem statement by combining three elements: user, need, and insight into a fill-in-the-blank.
A model to use for this is: user (fill in user) needs to (fill in need) because/to (fill in insight/consequence)
Example Problem Statement: "Users need a simpler way to understand and manage their finances to reduce anxiety."
Step 3: Use the HMW Formula
Once you have a problem statement, you can then create a HMW question. I always use the two following formulas:
Basic Formula: How might we [verb] [outcome] for [user]?
Example: "How might we increase engagement for teenage users?"
With Specific Action: How might we [verb] [outcome] for [user] by [action]?
Example: "How might we improve learning outcomes for high school students by integrating interactive technologies?"
You might not always need the "by [action/means]" part, as it can sometimes limit the scope of ideation. Use it when you want to guide the brainstorming process in a specific direction.
Example (basic) HMW Statement: "How might we simplify financial management for users to reduce anxiety?"
Step 4: Refine for Broadness and Specificity
Ensure your HMW statement is broad enough to allow for creative exploration but specific enough to be actionable. It should invite a wide range of solutions but be directed towards a clear outcome.
Tackling Broad HMWs
Here are some examples of HMW statements that are too broad and vague:
How might we redesign our website to make it better?
How might we make our app more usable?
How might we innovate on weather apps?
These statements give minimal direction or inspiration and can actually feel overwhelming to try to answer. Imagine trying to think of all the potential ways to make an app more usable? What does usable even mean? There are way too many solutions and not nearly enough focus, meaning your HWM participants will be confused at where to even begin to define a solution.
Signs that your HMW statement is too broad include:
It could apply to almost any organization or situation.
It invites a vast range of solutions, making it hard to know where to start.
It doesn’t clearly relate to your specific user needs or business goals.
You can fix broad HMW statements by adding specificity through introducing specific user groups, contexts, or outcomes to focus your statement. Consider who you're designing for or the particular aspect of the problem you want to tackle.
Example Broad Statement: "How might we improve education?"
Fixed Statement: "How might we enhance online learning for rural high school students with limited internet access?"
Example Broad Statement: "How might we make workplaces better?"
Fixed Statement: "How might we create more collaborative workspaces for remote teams to enhance productivity and connection?"
Tackling Narrow HMWs
HMW statements can also be too narrow:
How might we change the CTA button on the add to cart to a different color to make it more engaging?
How might we make the perfect weather app by telling people the weather before they wake up?
How might we make children less hyper during school by extending recess for 20 minutes?
When HMW statements are too narrow, we lose all the incredible, innovative ideas that can come from them. With too much focus, we are stuck on one particular solution already. We want several different ideas to test at the end, so focusing too much on one solution will limit creativity and innovation.
Signs Your HMW Statement Is Too Narrow:
It suggests a specific solution or technology.
It focuses on minor issues, missing the bigger picture.
It doesn’t leave much room for exploration or alternative approaches.
You can fix narrow HMW statements by broadening the scope through removing constraints and opening up the statement to a wider range of possibilities. Avoid mentioning specific solutions or technologies.
Example Narrow Statement: "How might we develop a mobile app to improve English vocabulary for eighth graders?"
Fixed Statement: "How might we make learning English vocabulary more engaging for eighth graders?"
Example Narrow Statement: "How might we add a chat feature to our project management tool?"
Fixed Statement: "How might we facilitate better communication among project team members in a remote work environment?"
Example (specific) HMW Statement: "How might we make financial management feel more accessible and less intimidating for young adults?"
Step 5: Test and Iterate
For a while, I went into sessions without first sharing or getting feedback on my How Might We statements, only to be met with blank stares or confused faces. By sharing your How Might We’s ahead of time with a few colleagues, you can get feedback on how they feel about them ahead of any ideation workshops. Are they inspired? Do the statements generate a wide range of ideas? Do they force them down a certain solution path? Or do they feel overwhelmed hearing the question?
Once I started getting feedback on my HMW statements beforehand, my ideation sessions became much more productive and I started to refine the craft of writing these statements. I iterated and learned so much by gauging people’s reactions to statements — this is where most of my learning came, tweaking these statements based on colleagues’ feedback.
Step 6: Finalize Your HMW Statement
Refine your statement based on feedback and your own insights. The final version should be inspiring, clear, and focused, ready to guide your team’s ideation process.
Example Final HMW Statement: "How might we design an intuitive financial management tool that empowers young adults, including those less tech-savvy, to overcome their anxiety about finances?"
Examples of Effective vs. Ineffective How Might We Statements
It takes some practices to get used to writing these statements in the most effective way possible. Below are some examples of effective versus ineffective HMW statements you can use as inspiration when creating your own:
Example One
Ineffective: How might we design a new app?
Why Ineffective: It's too broad and lacks focus on the user's needs or the problem being solved.
Effective: How might we make it easier for busy parents to track their children’s after school schedules?
Why Effective: This statement clearly identifies the target audience (busy parents) and the specific challenge (tracking after school schedules), inviting targeted and meaningful solutions.
Example Two
Ineffective: "How might we reduce customer service calls?"
Why Ineffective: It suggests a goal (reducing calls) that might lead to solutions focused only on deflecting customer interactions rather than improving service quality or addressing underlying issues.
Effective: "How might we enhance our customer service experience to increase satisfaction?"
Why Effective: This opens up a broader range of solutions focused on improving the overall customer experience, addressing the root causes of dissatisfaction that may lead to calls, and not just the symptom of high call volume.
Example Three
Ineffective: How might we use AI in our products?
Why Ineffective: It focuses on a solution (using AI) rather than the problem or opportunity, which can limit creative thinking.
Effective: How might we personalize our customers' experience to better meet their needs?
Why Effective: This statement is open to a wide range of solutions, including but not limited to AI, and is centered around improving the customer experience, encouraging innovation in service of the user.
Example Four
Ineffective: "How might we drive more traffic to our website?"
Why Ineffective: While increasing traffic is one way to boost sales, focusing solely on traffic doesn't address the quality of the visitor experience or conversion rate optimization. It could lead to solutions that increase numbers without necessarily increasing sales.
Effective: "How might we improve the online shopping experience to convert more visitors into customers?"
Why Effective: This statement focuses on the quality of the visitor experience and conversion, encouraging solutions that are likely to have a direct impact on sales. It invites a wide range of creative approaches to enhance the shopping experience.
Example Five
Ineffective: "How might we use less paper in our office?"
Why Ineffective: It's narrowly focused on paper usage, which is just one aspect of sustainability. This narrow focus might limit the scope of solutions to those that only address paper consumption.
Effective: "How might we foster a culture of sustainability in our workplace?"
Why Effective: It broadens the scope to include all aspects of sustainability, not just paper usage. This encourages a comprehensive approach to promoting sustainable practices across the organization.
Example Six
Ineffective: "How might we comply with accessibility guidelines?"
Why Ineffective: While compliance is important, focusing solely on meeting guidelines may not fully address the needs of users with disabilities. This statement frames accessibility as a checkbox task rather than an opportunity to genuinely improve user experience.
Effective: "How might we make our product more accessible and user-friendly for people with visual impairments?"
Why Effective: This statement is specific about the user group (people with visual impairments) but open in terms of potential solutions, encouraging innovation beyond mere compliance. It focuses on improving the user experience, which is a more inspiring and user-centered approach.
Integrating How Might We Statements into Your Research Process
One of the amazing things I learned about How Might We statements was how I could use them throughout my research process to help define, refine, and solutionize. Originally, I only used them as a way to frame my insights after I completed a project, but then I saw how they could be hugely helpful in so many different parts of the process that I started using them in many different situations.
I highly recommend using these statements throughout your process as it they can help you so much at each different stage. Here is when and how I use HMW statements at different parts of the research process:
Initial Problem Identification
One of the most powerful ways I learned to use How Might We’s was at the beginning of my research process to help set the direction and focus of a project.
How to incorporate them at this stage:
Gather Preliminary Insights: Start with user interviews, observations, and data analysis to understand your users' needs, frustrations, and desires.
Draft HMW Statements: Based on these insights, formulate HMW statements that capture the core challenges or opportunities you've identified. These statements should inspire you toward a future research project that strikes the balance between openness to explore and focus.
Example HMW for problem identification:
Scenario: Users find it challenging to maintain a healthy diet due to a busy lifestyle.
HMW Statement: "How might we help busy individuals easily integrate healthy eating habits into their daily routines?"
Usage: This HMW statement sets the stage for understanding the broader challenge of maintaining a healthy diet amidst a hectic schedule. It guides initial research efforts, encouraging the team to explore users' daily routines, their understanding of healthy eating, and the barriers they face.
Ideation Sessions
Another great way to incorporate HMW statements is during ideation sessions after you have a solid understanding of your users and their needs. This stage is about generating solutions, and HMW statements help ensure that your ideas are aligned with user needs and open to innovative approaches.
How to incorporate them at this stage:
Facilitate Brainstorming: Use the HMW statements as prompts in brainstorming sessions to generate a wide range of ideas. Encourage participants to think freely and build on each other's ideas.
Diversify Thinking: Rotate through multiple HMW statements to explore different aspects of the problem or to challenge the team to think from various perspectives.
Example HMW for ideation sessions:
Scenario: During research, you find that users often resort to fast food because they lack time to prepare healthy meals.
HMW Statement: "How might we make healthy meal preparation quick and appealing for people with little spare time?"
Usage: This HMW statement can spark creativity in brainstorming sessions by focusing on the specific challenge of time constraint in meal preparation. It encourages the team to think of innovative solutions that reduce preparation time, enhance the appeal of healthy meals, or both.
Solution Development
HMW statements should guide the selection of ideas for development and be a reference point throughout the prototyping and testing phases. They can help keep the team aligned on the project's goals and ensure that the solutions developed are meaningful and user-centered.
How to incorporate them at this stage:
Narrow Down Ideas: Use HMW statements to revisit the core challenges and opportunities as you begin to narrow down your list of potential solutions. They can help ensure that the ideas you choose to develop further are both innovative and directly address the user needs identified.
Prototype and Test: As you develop prototypes, refer back to your HMW statements to guide your design decisions and ensure that your solutions remain focused on addressing the specific challenges or opportunities you've identified.
Example HMW for solution development:
Scenario: Ideation generates ideas around meal kits, quick recipes, and educational content on healthy eating.
HMW Statement: "How might we design a meal kit service that caters to the needs of the time-strapped yet health-conscious user?"
Usage: As the team moves into developing solutions, this HMW statement helps to focus on creating a meal kit service that addresses users' time constraints while supporting their desire to eat healthily. It guides the prototyping of meal kits, selection of recipes, and the development of complementary digital content.
Refinement and Iteration
You can also use HMW statements throughout the refinement and iteration stage, as you refine your solutions based on feedback. HMW statements can help ensure that your iterations are focused and purposeful, continually aiming to better meet user needs.
How to incorporate them at this stage:
Iterative Feedback: Use HMW statements to frame questions and discussions during user testing and feedback sessions. They can help elicit insights on whether the solution effectively addresses the problem and inspire ways to improve it.
Iterate on Solutions: Based on feedback, revisit your HMW statements to refine your solutions or to ideate new approaches that better meet user needs.
Example HMW for refinement and iteration:
Scenario: Testing reveals that while users find the meal kit useful, they struggle with meal variety and staying motivated.
HMW Statement: "How might we continuously engage users with our meal kit service, encouraging variety and sustained healthy eating habits?"
Usage: This statement prompts the team to consider ways to enhance the meal kit service, possibly by introducing new recipes regularly, incorporating feedback mechanisms, or developing community support features. It ensures that iterations on the product directly address user feedback and enhance engagement and satisfaction.
See? Powerful and mighty little statements! They can really keep you on track to ensure you are focused on the user at all times while also inviting collaborative creativity on solutions. By incorporating HMW statements at each stage of your user research process, you can help team maintain a clear focus on user needs and innovative problem-solving, ensuring that the solutions developed are both creative and deeply rooted in addressing real user challenges.
Using How Might We Statements in Ideation Sessions
Although HMW statements can be used in a variety of ways, one of the most common and powerful ways to incorporate How Might We’s is through ideation sessions. These sessions are one of the best ways to get your insights in front of people and have your colleagues act on your research. An ideation session can solve the original problem of colleagues ignoring insights or not knowing what to do with them.
Here's how to effectively incorporate HMW statements into brainstorming sessions and workshops, encourage diverse perspectives, and prioritize ideas for further development.
Facilitating Brainstorming Sessions with HMW Statements
Prepare Your HMW Statements. Before the session, select or develop HMW statements based on prior research insights. Ensure these statements are broad enough to encourage creative thinking but focused enough to be relevant to your users’ needs.
Set the Stage: Begin with a brief overview of the user research findings that led to the HMW statements. This helps participants understand the context and grounds the session in real user needs. Clearly explain what HMW statements are and how they’re intended to spark ideas.
Encourage Open Ideation: Present one HMW statement at a time and invite participants to generate as many ideas as possible, using the statement as a prompt. You can use any ideation technique that feels most comfortable to you. Here are some of my favorites:
Flip the Problem: Invert the original problem statement and brainstorm ideas around the reversed question. Then, take some of these negative ideas and invert them back to solve the original problem.
How Would [Company] Do It?: Explore the problem space as if you were a CEO of a completely different company (e.g., Google, Amazon). This exercise encourages thinking outside your industry's norms.
Crazy 8’s: A sketching technique where participants create eight different ideas in eight minutes. This approach is inclusive and suitable for designers and non-designers alike.
Method 6-3-5: Six people write down three ideas in five minutes, passing their sheets to others to build on the concepts. This collaborative approach sparks creativity and innovation.
Worst Possible Idea: Encourage participants to generate terrible, absurd, or even illegal ideas. Then, challenge them to transform these terrible ideas into good ones by considering their opposites or extracting valuable aspects.
Encourage Diverse Perspectives
Diverse Participation: Include participants from different roles, backgrounds, and departments. Diversity in the room brings diverse ways of thinking, leading to a richer set of ideas. Consider inviting users or external stakeholders to participate or provide input ahead of the brainstorming session.
Create a Safe Space: Establish ground rules that support a judgment-free environment. Emphasize that all ideas are welcome and that critique is reserved for later stages. Use facilitation techniques like round-robin (everyone takes turns sharing ideas) or anonymous idea submission (using post-its or digital tools) to ensure quieter voices are heard.
Foster an Inclusive Environment: Actively encourage participants to build on each other's ideas, which can lead to even more innovative solutions. Be mindful of dynamics in the room to ensure that dominant voices don’t overshadow others. Facilitators can redirect the conversation to include more participants.
How to Prioritize and Select Ideas
Group and Theme Ideas: After generating a wide range of ideas, group them into themes or categories. This helps identify patterns or areas of interest that emerged during the session. Look for clusters of ideas that address the HMW statement in unique or particularly promising ways.
Criteria for Selection: Establish criteria for prioritizing ideas, which might include feasibility, potential impact, alignment with user needs, or innovativeness. Consider using voting methods (dot voting, for example) to allow participants to express which ideas they find most compelling based on the criteria.
Narrow Down and Plan Next Steps: Select a handful of ideas to explore further. This selection can be based on the outcomes of the voting, facilitator insight, and discussion among participants. Outline next steps for each selected idea, which may include more detailed research, prototyping, or incorporating the idea into a larger project plan.
Document and Share Outcomes: Ensure that all ideas, not just the selected few, are documented and shared with participants and other stakeholders. This can foster a sense of ownership and appreciation for the collaborative effort. Highlight how the HMW statements guided the ideation process and how the selected ideas will be explored further.
To make this more concrete, I’ve included a sample agenda I’ve used that incorporates a HMW ideation session while using the Crazy 8’s technique:
Sample Agenda for an HMW Ideation Session Using Crazy 8's
Goal:
To generate a diverse set of solutions to improve the user experience on a mobile banking app, guided by HMW statements.
Duration: 1.5 Hours
Part 1: Introduction and Warm-Up (15 minutes)
1. Welcome and Ice Breaker (5 minutes)
A quick welcome with an ice-breaker activity to get everyone comfortable. I particularly love either:
The Aliens HaveInvaded, in which you ask everyone to explain a concept to aliens who can only speak via emojis
Paperclip Uses, in which people take a few minutes to brainstorm all the things they could use a paper clip for — it’s hilarious!
2. Session Overview and Goal (5 minutes)
Explain the session's goal: To ideate solutions for improving the mobile banking app experience for users.
Introduce the concept of HMW statements and Crazy 8's method.
3. Introduction to the HMW Statement (5 minutes)
Present the chosen HMW statement: "How might we make the mobile banking app more intuitive and secure for first-time users?"
Briefly discuss the background and user research that led to this HMW statement.
Part 2: Crazy 8's Ideation (45 minutes)
4. Explanation of Crazy 8's Method (5 minutes)
Explain the Crazy 8's method: Each participant will fold a sheet of paper into eight sections and then, given 8 minutes, sketch or write down an idea in each section, moving quickly from one to the next.
5. Round 1 of Crazy 8's (8 minutes)
Participants work individually on their Crazy 8's, focusing on the presented HMW statement.
6. Share and Discuss Ideas (10 minutes)
Participants briefly share their ideas with the group, explaining their sketches or concepts.
Facilitate a quick discussion to highlight interesting or recurring themes.
7. Refine HMW Statement (Optional) (2 minutes)
Based on the discussion, slightly refine or introduce a new HMW statement for the next round to explore different aspects of the problem, e.g., "How might we personalize the mobile banking experience to build trust with first-time users?"
8. Round 2 of Crazy 8's (8 minutes)
Repeat the Crazy 8's process with the new or refined HMW statement, encouraging participants to build on ideas from the first round or explore new directions.
9. Share and Discuss Ideas (10 minutes)
Another round of sharing and discussion, focusing on the new ideas generated.
Part 3: Convergence and Prioritization (20 minutes)
10. Idea Grouping and Voting (10 minutes)
Group similar ideas together on a wall or digital board.
Use dot voting to identify the most promising ideas, allowing each participant a limited number (usually two or three) of votes.
11. Discuss and Select Ideas to Develop (10 minutes)
Discuss the top-voted ideas in more detail, considering feasibility, impact, and alignment with user needs.
Select a subset of ideas for further exploration.
Part 4: Wrap-Up and Next Steps (10 minutes)
12. Define Next Steps (5 minutes)
Outline the process for further researching, prototyping, and testing the selected ideas.
Assign responsibilities or create small teams for each idea if applicable.
13. Closing Remarks and Feedback (5 minutes)
Thank participants for their energy and creativity.
Briefly gather feedback on the session to improve future workshops. You can also send out a post-workshop survey to gather even more feedback (highly recommend this!).
Practice and Enjoy!
It takes time and practice to refine the craft of creating effective and impactful How Might We statements and I highly encourage you to take the time to learn this particular skill. Not only does it serve as a great way to collaborate with teams, but it empowers you to bring your research to the next level and truly make it actionable. Workshop facilitation and activation are critical soft skills for a user researcher and How Might We statements are a fantastic way to hone those skills and demonstrate the value of your research.
Try to enjoy the process as much as you can — HMW statements are meant to be fun, creative, and energizing for teams. I promise, once you get into a rhythm with using these statements, you will have a blast!
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If you’re looking for even more content, a space to call home (with a buzzing private community), and live sessions with me to answer all your deepest questions, check out my membership! Within the membership, you get all my Substack content for free and so many other wonderful resources to help you gain confidence and up-level in your user research career!