Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Avoid Suggesting a Solution in Your HMW Question
It can be easy to limit your thinking and embed solutions in your HMW questions. But doing so restricts the pool of possibilities, and fewer ideas are generated. In the example below, the first HMW suggests a particular type of solution, whereas the second is agnostic about any particular solution.
- Insight: Users are often unsure about which form to complete when they file their taxes.
- HMW (poor): How might we tell users which form to complete to file their taxes?
- HMW (good): How might we make users feel confident they are filing their taxes correctly?
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Constructing how-might-we questions generates creative solutions while keeping teams focused on the right problems to solve.
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Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Keep Your HMWs Broad
When writing HMW questions, ask yourself if you could rewrite them in a broader way? The broader the HMW, the more ideas can be generated.
- Insight: Users often spend a long time checking their submission for mistakes.
- HMW (good): How might we make it quick and easy for users...
Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Focus Your HMWs on the Desired Outcome
To avoid solving symptoms of the problems rather than the root problems themselves, ask yourself whether your HMW question focuses on the desired outcome. In the example below, the first HMW question loses sight of what we really want to achieve.
- Problem: Users often call us because ...
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