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As of 2025, Highline Beta argues that most "How Might We" questions in innovation are too vague, solution-led, or safe, and recommends using HMW questions to frame problems rather than solutions.
Most "How Might We" questions fail because they're either too vague ("How might we improve the user experience?"), already contain solutions ("How might we build an app that tracks sleep?"), or are too broad to be actionable ("How might we help people be healthier?"). Effective HMW questions must be problem-centered rather than solution-led, grounded in specific user context from real research, and open-ended but directional enough to guide meaningful ideation. Highline Beta emphasizes that great HMWs come from actual user interviews and observed pain points, not assumptions, and should help teams stay anchored in real user problems while opening up solution space without jumping to features too quickly.
HMW questions become ineffective when they lack specificity about the user, context, or problem being solved. Examples include "How might we improve the user experience?" which doesn't specify what needs improving, for whom, or in what context. Questions that are already solutions in disguise, like "How might we build an app that tracks sleep?" focus on the "how" rather than the underlying problem, while overly broad questions like "How might we help people be healthier?" are too expansive to test or validate in practical timeframes.
Teams should review their research notes for recurring pain points and write one HMW for each identified theme. Each question should be grounded in real user interviews and observed behaviors rather than assumptions. Highline Beta recommends asking whether the HMW is problem-centered, includes enough user context specificity, remains open-ended but directional, and focuses on a discrete user or stakeholder before workshopping them with the team and moving into ideation.
Strong HMW questions include specific user context and real-world problems identified through primary research. Examples include "How might we help caregivers feel less stressed and more prepared about their child leaving their home environments" and "How might we help facilitate conversations at key relationship moments that help couples come up with financial rules for their relationship?" These questions reflect actual user needs discovered through interviews, provide enough specificity to make ideation concrete rather than theoretical, and focus on the underlying problem rather than predetermined solutions.
Properly framed HMW questions help teams stay anchored in real user pain, open up meaningful solution space, avoid jumping to features too quickly, and align on what they're actually solving. They make ideation sessions faster, smarter, and more user-centered by providing clear direction without constraining creative thinking. When paired with insights from research during ideation sessions, these questions inspire solutions that address genuine user needs rather than theoretical problems.
(If you missed last week's edition, here it is : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-much-user-research-enough-highlinebeta-0cenc/?trackingId=5xy5XdzdSzuZc%2F1Jd5Bt3A%3D%3D)
“How Might We” questions are everywhere in innovation.
But most of them? Too vague. Too solution-led. Too safe.
Our recommendation: use HMW questions to frame problems, not solutions.
The goal is to reframe what you’ve heard from users into a challenge that’s specific, open-ended, and directional, without being so broad it’s useless.
The way you frame a question shapes everything that comes next. When done right, HMWs spark creative thinking by being an invitation to ideate a world of possibilities.
A strong HMW helps you:
If your HMWs aren’t doing those things, they’re not doing their job.
Too vague
“How might we improve the user experience?”
Improve what? For whom? In what context?
Already a solution
“How might we build an app that tracks sleep?”
That’s not a problem, it’s a product.
Too broad
“How might we help people be healthier?”
Good luck testing that in a two-week sprint.
Great HMWs don’t come from thin air. They come from real research: pain heard, friction observed, behavior unpacked.
Problem-centered, not solution-led
It focuses on the “why” and “what”—not the “how.”
Grounded in user context
It includes enough specificity to make ideation real, not theoretical.
Open-ended but directional
It gives room to explore, but doesn’t leave you wandering.
User centric
It is trying to solve a problem for a discrete user or stakeholder.
How might we help caregivers feel less stressed and more prepared about their child leaving their home environments
How might we help facilitate conversations at key relationship moments (e.g., when moving in together) that help couples come up with financial rules for their relationship?
How might we help independent insurance agencies access qualified talent and effectively determine who will be a good fit before hiring?
Each of these came straight from user interviews and are based on a real world problem identified from primary research.
They reflect real needs, not random assumptions.
When running how might we ideation sessions, we recommend pairing the question with insights from research to help inspire creative thinking.
If your HMW isn’t rooted in real insight, it won’t lead to a real solution.
Well-framed HMWs are a small shift that creates massive clarity.
They make ideation faster, smarter, and more user-centered, so you can build what actually matters.
