What is it? HMW, short for “How Might We …?”, is an analytical technique relying on actionable questions asked from a particular point of view on a specific problem. They can be used to spur creative problem solving and produce insights, which lead to significant innovation. It can be used for Brainstorming, but is not necessarily a brainstorming approach. HMW is frequently used as part of Design Thinking sessions. You need a challenge, a Point of View and a set of relevant questions starting with “How Might We …?

What is it? This is a simple way for evaluating the forces pro and con that are at play with regards to certain change. Typically, this is a change the organization is interested in or faces. This is a method coming from the field of Social Science and developed by Kurt Lewin. Dave Gray has introduced a map (Force Field Map), which provides an excellent canvas for having a conversation with all participants in front of a flipchart or whiteboard.

What is it? A visual approach for scoping the most important features of a product/service. It is a drawing of multiple concentric circles, each of which represents an additional layer of details for the product/service. At the core are the generic product/service characteristics (features), followed by minimal conditions circle (must haves), an augmented product circle, a potential circle (differentiations and customer retention features) and additional circles if required. Why use it?

What is it? This Design Thinking practice is exactly what the title says - the team members have to imagine the box/packaging for a new product. They need to come up with slogans that correspond to the essence of the product/service, highlight the most important valuable features it aims at. It gets the team to think from a big picture perspective and from the shoes of the potential customers and to start designing a new product/service.

What is it? This Design Thinking practice intends to suspend disbelief, doubts and imminent focus on the daunting task at hand (design of a new product or service). It is forcing participants to start with the end in mind by imagining a distant future in which the product/service has been super successful and provoked the admiration of the public. The participants start by listing a set of headlines and draft a popular magazine article outlining the success of the product/service and the organization.

What is it? How-Now-Wow is a prioritisation matrix / idea selection tool, which is often combined with Brainstorming, HMW, Design of Experiments. It compares and plot ideas on a 2x2 matrix by comparing the idea’s difficulty to implement with its novelty/originality. Why use it? This practice opens up the product development for the whole team Developing new products goes hand in hand with generation of ideas, hypothesis and their testing/validation. Unfortunately, it is mostly impossible to test and evaluate all ideas and hypothesis we can come up with.