Session Brief: How Might We

Goal

Artifact: HMW Questions

Working Question

How do we reformulate our insights and pain points into open opportunity questions that trigger ideation without prescribing a solution?

Context

Top-5 insights from research; known pain points; existing solution attempts (to define what not to solve with HMW); ideation purpose (immediate follow-up ideation or backlog for later).

Setup

• Format: Method session
• Duration: 10-20 min
• Mode: Workshop or async
• Participants: One facilitator; 2-8 participants from Product, Design, and Research; ideally a researcher with direct access to insights; a problem owner for scope clarification.
• Owner: One facilitator
• Participation mode: Team round, shared work and alignment
• Outcome logic: Finish artifact

Participation Logic

Use the session for shared understanding. Contributions are collected visibly, assumptions are aligned, and open differences remain traceable in the artifact.

Outcome Logic

The session works directly toward HMW Questions. After the session, the artifact should be shareable, reviewable, or reusable.

Input

Whiteboard or digital board with two columns (insights/pain points on the left, HMW questions on the right); two colors of sticky notes; markers; accessible insight statements from research synthesis.

Preparation

Place insights as stickies in the left column. Show an example HMW question. Rule: HMW format is always "How might we..." - no statement, no imperative. Set timer to 15 min.

Agenda

1. Phase 1: Set out insights (3-5 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Place the top 5 insights from research on the left column. Add short context from a quote or observation per insight. Confirm understanding. Hint: If insights are vague ("users want more UX"), sharpen them first. Vague insights produce vague HMW questions. Output: HMW Questions

2. Phase 2: Formulate HMW — Goldilocks test (5-10 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Formulate 1-3 HMW variants per insight. Apply the Goldilocks test: not too broad ("how do we improve the app?") and not too narrow ("how do we make the button bluer?"). Find the middle level of abstraction. Hint: Test: can the HMW question be answered in 30+ different directions? If only 2-3 answers are possible, it is too narrow. If 1000+ answers are possible, it is too broad. Output: Challenge Framing

3. Phase 3: Tighten scope (3-5 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: For each HMW, mark scope: Who is affected (which persona)? When (which journey phase)? Which outcome is targeted? If unclear, rephrase the HMW. Hint: HMW without a persona or outcome is generic. "How might we support a solo tax advisor in the Q1 VAT advance filing step?" is a tight framing. Output: Idea Prompts

4. Phase 4: Select the top 1-3 HMW (5 min) Owner: Owner Action: Choose the best 1-3 HMW questions to use as ideation prompts from the generated pool. Selection criteria: outcome relevance, stakeholder mandate, and decision window. Hint: More than 3 HMW questions for one workshop is too many. Better to focus on a few tightly scoped questions than a broad collection. Output: HMW Questions

5. Publish artifact (10 min) Owner: Owner Action: Check the artifact for completeness, define location, set version or status, and name review recipients. Output: HMW Questions

Closeout

• Update result artifact: HMW Questions
• Define location, version, and review recipients.
• Define owner, next step, and review date.

HMW Questions: How Might We

Working Question

How do we reformulate our insights and pain points into open opportunity questions that trigger ideation without prescribing a solution?

Context

Top-5 insights from research; known pain points; existing solution attempts (to define what not to solve with HMW); ideation purpose (immediate follow-up ideation or backlog for later).

Participants

• Owner: One facilitator
• Participants: One facilitator; 2-8 participants from Product, Design, and Research; ideally a researcher with direct access to insights; a problem owner for scope clarification.

Input

Whiteboard or digital board with two columns (insights/pain points on the left, HMW questions on the right); two colors of sticky notes; markers; accessible insight statements from research synthesis.

Template

Workshop Agenda

Goal: ... Participants: ... Duration: ...

Close-out

Decision, owner, next test.

Completion Check

• HMW Questions is complete enough for review:
• Location:
• Version / status:
• Review by:
• Next step:

Next Step

• Review result
• Mark open questions
• Schedule review or decision