How might we

“How Might We” (HMW) is a technique for turning problems and insights into open questions that invite ideas. A pain point like “users abandon the signup form” becomes “How might we make signing up feel effortless?”
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The phrasing matters: “How” assumes a solution exists, “might” gives permission to explore imperfect ideas, and “we” makes it collaborative. Strong HMW questions are broad enough to allow many answers but narrow enough to stay actionable.

Why does it matter?

HMW questions are the bridge between research and ideation. They reframe negatives into opportunities and keep brainstorming focused on the user’s problem rather than a single pre-decided feature.
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Popularised by IDEO and used in Google Design Sprints, they help teams generate a wide range of solutions before committing to one.

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