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How Might We
Challenge Statements

Define a challenge statement that inspires and enables the right amount of idea generation.

This activity will help turn insights into opportunities for idea generation. Challenge statements are written in the format of “How Might We” (HMW) questions to change how we look at a problem. This action is called “reframing”; reframing is not about finding the “real” problem to solve, but to see if there is a better one to solve. They are written in a certain way to provoke action and inspire the team members to think of a variety of ideas.

“How”: suggests there isn’t an answer yet.

“Might”: welcomes a potential solution and the exploration of ideas.

“We”: brings in the collaborative effort.

Some questions can be too specific and narrow; these typically have a solution already defined and can limit the creative freedom a team needs to come up with different ideas. Some questions can be too broad and wide; these typically are too general and don’t provide enough clarity and focus for a team to create robust ideas. A good How Might We question is narrow enough to let you start generating ideas and broad enough to give you room to explore ideas.

Each HMW question will address a part of the overall challenge. Create multiple HMW questions and prioritize them for ideation.

2-6 people
60-90 minutes

What you’ll need

  • Pens or markers
  • Sticky notes
  • Problem statement
  • Insights from research
  • Dot stickers

Prerequisite Activities

Downloadable Materials

Instructions

step 1

Select a need to solve for

Gather your evolved problem statement from Problem Framing activity and opportunities from the Current Journey Map activity. They should be in this format:

The user ________ [user’s name] ________
needs a way to ___ [a goal, job, or activity the user aims to accomplish] ___
because _________ [supporting information about your user] ________.

Prioritize the opportunities that best align with the company’s direction and strategy. These opportunities will turn into “How Might We” challenge statements and be used for idea generation.

step 2

Individually, write "How Might We" questions

Use the worksheet as a guide to write HMW questions in the format below:

How Might We.. + [TEAM ACTION] for [TARGET USERS] to [IDEAL OUTCOME]?

Each HMW question has 4 parts:

HMW…: the question begins with “How Might We…” and ends with a question mark.
Team Action: a verb to describe an action that the team will do.
Target User: a target group or persona that the team will create solutions for.
Ideal Outcome: an ideal outcome that the target users will experience.

Each person will write 3-5 HMW questions per need. Use a sticky note for each box. Try writing different words for each box and combining them to make different questions.

Aim for a balanced HMW question. To go broad, ask “why?”. To go narrow, ask “what is stopping us?”. A balanced HMW question will indicate the direction of ideas and inspire the team to generate ideas. If a HMW question has a solution, it will limit the types of ideas.

Use these techniques to re-write the statements and change the perspective:

  • Amp up the good
  • Focus on emotions
  • Take it to an extreme
  • Explore the opposite
  • Question an assumption
  • Create an analogy from insight or context
  • Focus in on an element
Tip

In writing, “How Might We” is often abbreviated to HMW.

step 3

Share and re-write as a team

Take turns reading the HMW questions out loud. If any HMW questions are similar, group them together. Now, re-write 3-5 more HMW questions as a team. Read them out loud. This should inspire the team to generate ideas. If an idea doesn’t come to mind, it might not be inspiring enough.

step 4

Vote

Give a sticker dot to each other. Have each person vote for their top choice. The one with the most votes will be the chosen challenge statement.

Refer to Dot Voting for more details.

step 5

Generate Ideas

Now you can plan for an ideation workshop and use idea generation activities to solve for these challenge statements.