What are some examples of how-might-we questions?

While writing how-might-we questions (HMW) seems straightforward, there’s slightly more than meets the eye.

Innovation, at it's core, is about solving problems. So make sure you get the problems right.

The better you define the problem and the better you write the questions, the better the ideas that they prompt.

Problem: Customers are struggling during first time user.
HMW: How might we improve the onboarding experience to be simple and failure proof?

Here are 100 examples of How might we questions for your inspiration:

1. Map the journey: How might we remove the wait time between the airport arrival and departure?
2. Build on top: How might we make our products into a more symbiotic experience?
3. Exploit a gap: How might we turn missing search results into a benefit?
4. Question the status quo: How might we remove the need for an office?
5. Go after the deadline: How might we ensure people hand in their papers on time?
6. Turn habit into health: How might we help employees stay productive and healthy when working from home?
7. Make invisible things visible: How might we make customers feel that their information is safe and secure when creating an account?
8. Discover moments of pride: How might we encourage our most loyal customers to talk about their most rewarding experiences?
9. Help the young: How might we make it easier for students to find and apply to a higher education course?
10. Change adoption: How might we get companies to invest in the future, rather than the present?
11. Solve a crisis: How might we ensure more people access clean water?
12. Solve unavoidable specifics: How might we reduce the number of accidents when drivers take their hands off the steering wheel?
13. Find a solution: How might we address traffic problems that arise during peak periods?
14. Get the most out of the people around you: How might we encourage individuals to find their greatest strengths?
15. Keep their hands free: How might we get more drivers to use their hands on the steering wheel?
16. Improve accessibility: How might we make the experience of going to a business location more pleasant and accessible to people with disabilities?
17. Get users to do more: How might we empower people to make more of their lives?
18. Add more meaning: How might we give our users a sense of purpose?
19. Make the new even more meaningful: How might we design more meaningful rewards for our employees?
20. Change the game: How might we improve the way businesses market to customers?
21. Go viral: How might we make our customers more likely to share?
22. Get kids involved: How might we connect learning with play?
23. Bring awareness to a community: How might we promote an issue that affects our users?
24. Improve the workplace: How might we inspire our users to be more engaged with their work?
25. Solve the problem that comes with solving the problem: How might we stop the cycle of crime and punishment?
26. Turn data into a positive: How might we use data to empower our employees and customers?
27. Create a new social norm: How might we encourage new behaviour by making it easy for others to adopt?
28. Change the world: How might we inspire our users to go the extra mile for their cause?
29. Find out if you can: How might we improve the way people feel about us?
30. Break the mold: How might we change attitudes about a concept that is outdated?
31. Take advantage of trends: How might we be on the cutting edge of innovation?
32. Make a new law: How might we remove barriers for businesses to operate efficiently?
33. Improve communication: How might we help businesses understand and respond to their customer needs?
34. Put users first: How might we ensure our apps are as user friendly as possible?
35. Solve our biggest problems: How might we identify the biggest problems that most hinder our users?
36. Turn the tables: How might we get businesses to listen to their users?
37. Give customers what they want: How might we improve the range of services we offer?
38. Find solutions that work: How might we make customers happy?
39. Make the world a better place: How might we help others do good?
40. Make a difference: How might we make the world a better place?
41. Solve problems in developing countries: How might we help businesses in less developed countries?
42. Solve problems where it hurts: How might we use information to prevent future abuse?
43. Solve problems that don’t affect us: How might we help those that won’t cause us any problems?
44. Give them what they want: How might we help those in need?
45. Increase accountability: How might we reduce the instances where businesses break their promises?
46. Get the people on our side: How might we appeal to and persuade our user base?
47. Make people feel good: How might we use the power of the internet to inspire?
48. Solve problems that others face: How might we solve problems that others have encountered?
49. Improve the lives of kids: How might we help our children?
50. Empower those that need it: How might we help less fortunate people?
51. Solve a societal problem: How might we work with businesses and charities to solve societal problems?
52. Solve problems where they happen: How might we change the way we build things?
53. Solve problems that don’t affect us: How might we help those that won’t cause us any problems?
54. Find ways to make our own lives better: How might we use information to make our own lives easier?
55. Learn about our users: How might we be more connected to our users?
56. Increase efficiency: How might we speed up the processes that happen when we’re using a product?
57. Find new solutions to old problems: How might we find new ways to apply solutions to old problems?
58. Take risks: How might we get users to do something that they’ve never done before?
59. Solve problems people have already encountered: How might we remove barriers so people can solve their problems?
60. Optimize resource use: How might time waiting in a queue be used in a more productive and fulfilling way?
61. Use antonyms: How might turn disaster into recovery?
62. Turn a challenge into a game: How might taxes become playful?
63. Charge more intelligently: How might we change the way people pay for our products to earn more?
64. Leverage users’ passion: How might we encourage users to participate in the process and not just consume the process?
65. Use the people on the ground: How might we use community members to help with our product?
66. Take our minds off it: How might we make it easier for users to do the most important thing to them?
67. Find new ways to be creative: How might we help others be creative?
68. Make your users more likely to share: How might we get users to share?
69. Make our users more likely to pay: How might we encourage our users to part with their money?
70. Get kids in the workplace: How might we encourage more young people to pursue a career?
71. Make things accessible: How might we make sure people are able to use our products?
72. Make it more pleasant to use: How might we make the experience of using our product more pleasant?
73. Make it easy to switch: How might we increase stickiness?
74. Get people out of their cars: How might we make the trip more comfortable for users who live in busy areas?
75. Improve the experience of work: How might we make our product more engaging?
76. Add the element of surprise: How might we add something unexpected to our product?
77. Get people moving: How might we improve the experience of walking around a busy city?
78. Find a way to change the culture: How might we encourage people to use and enjoy walking in new, exciting ways?
79. Increase a sense of social responsibility: How might we encourage users to be more involved in community improvement?
80. Make it easier to give: How might we increase donations from charities?
81. Make it easier to read: How might we improve the information experience for users with different abilities?
82. Make it more enjoyable to work: How might we create better work experiences for users?
83. Make our users more productive: How might we motivate users to get more work done?
84. Give kids a voice: How might we enable young people to make their voices heard?
85. Have better discussions: How might we help people resolve conflicts in a fun and constructive way?
86. Find people with common interests: How might we encourage people to share interests?
87. Improve their lives: How might we make our users’ lives better?
88. Solve more of the problems that you have: How might we make the user experience better for users that are currently struggling with a problem?
89. Have fun together: How might we get people to get along?
90. Change how users perceive the world: How might we make the world a more fun place?
91. Bring users together: How might we improve communities?
92. Encourage users to make sacrifices: How might we encourage users to make sacrifices that are in the best interest of our society?
93. Put people before corporations: How might we make users care more about their communities than profits?
94. Improve the environment: How might we protect our planet better?
95. Make people happy: How might we make people happier?
96. Help people get their kids out of bed: How might we make getting to school on time easier for parents?
97. Solve social problems: How might we tackle important social issues?
98. Solve big problems: How might we tackle the most important big problems facing society?
99. Make people think twice: How might we get people to spend more time considering their purchasing decisions?
100. Work against the problems: How might we reduce the top objections in sales?

This list is a snapshot of possible how might we questions to inspire you to come up with your own. Every single of our customers is working on unique problems. We do not claim to have a definitive list or have the knowledge to make a prediction on which ones might work.

You get the picture, the idea is to ask a broad questions and expect several good ideas from which you can choose a few winners. Remember, there is more than one right idea.