How Might We Statements Define Innovation

Contenido del curso

Getting into the world of innovation

Listening to your user

Creating valuable ideas

Considering the outside world

Recap

15
Innovación Empresarial: Estrategias para la Creatividad y el Análisis Competitivo
04:08 min

Putting your ideas to the test

Going from idea to business

Getting people on board

Innovating in the real world

Tomar examen

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How Might We Statements Define Innovation

Curso de Innovación para Emprendimiento

Clase 2 de 27

Clase 2 / 27

Recursos

Before jumping into brainstorming, you need a sharp problem statement. A well written how might we innovation challenge turns a vague ambition into a focused prompt your team can actually solve, and it saves you from wasting weeks on the wrong problem.

What is a how might we innovation challenge?

Innovation is about turning problems into opportunities, but the phrasing matters. Instead of asking what's your problem, you reframe it as how might we to open the door to multiple solutions without locking you into one answer too early.

What does how might we mean? It's a phrasing method used to define an innovation challenge. You describe the context, the target user, and the impact you want, keeping the statement open enough to invite ideas but focused enough to guide them.

A good challenge covers four pieces: the context (problem or opportunity), the target user, the impact you want on that user, and the balance between open and closed. Sometimes you add productive constraints, which are real limitations like budget, time, or user needs that shape the solution space instead of blocking it.

How do I know if my innovation challenge is weak or strong?

The fastest way to test a challenge is to read it and see if solutions start popping into your head. If you feel overwhelmed or bored, something is off. Let's walk through four examples.

Why is improving women's lives in Mexico City a weak challenge?

It sounds noble, and honestly, someone should be working on it. But as an innovation challenge it's too broad and abstract. It's the equivalent of saying you want world peace. You don't know where to start, who exactly you're helping, or what impact looks like.

Compare that with: increase flexible work opportunities for single mothers in Mexico City. Now you know the user (single mothers), the location (Mexico City), and the desired impact (more flexible work). Ideas start showing up almost immediately, and that's the signal you're looking for.

Why is a challenge that names the solution also weak?

Look at this one: how do we increase class attendance of students in high school classes through a system of economic incentives? It's a trick. You already decided the solution is economic incentives, so just go implement it. You only formulate an innovation challenge when the path forward isn't clear yet.

When should I write a how might we statement? Write one when you have a complicated problem and you don't yet know how to solve it. If you already have the answer, skip the question and execute.

Now flip it to: develop high school students' personal commitment to graduating on time. Same context, but the user, the impact, and the objective are clear without prescribing the method. That opens the field for many possible solutions.

How does this look in a real company?

Here's an example from Cinépolis, the cinema chain. When redesigning the VIP experience, one of the innovation challenges was: how might we make our customers perceive and value our movie theater as a world class VIP experience?

Notice how it names the user (customers), the impact (perceive and value the theater as world class), and it leaves the how wide open. That single sentence became the launchpad for ideas around service, environment, and communication.

What can I actually innovate on?

A common trap is assuming innovation only means a new product. It doesn't. You can define an innovation challenge around many dimensions of a business or organization:

Products and services.
Clients and customer experience.
Environment and physical spaces.
Communication and messaging.
Tools and technology.
Processes and workflows.
People and culture.

That's why picking your challenge carefully matters. You're not just choosing what to build, you're choosing where to focus your energy.

What are productive constraints and why should I add them?

Productive constraints are limitations that make your challenge sharper instead of harder. Two quick examples:

If your user can only pay $5, build that ceiling into the challenge.
If your company needs a solution within three months to stay relevant, put that deadline inside the statement.

Constraints don't shrink creativity, they aim it. A challenge with realistic limits pushes you toward solutions that can actually ship.

Your turn: define your own innovation challenge

Now it's on you. Think about a problem you genuinely want to solve, and write a how might we statement that names the context, the target user, the impact, and any productive constraints that matter. Keep it open enough to inspire ideas, and closed enough to guide them.

Share your challenge in the comments, review what others are writing, and give feedback. You'll use this challenge throughout the rest of the course, so it's worth polishing before moving on to the next step.

Comentarios (164)164 comentarios

David Cobo Cohen

Hace 5 años

Before writing my challenge I want to said that reading all of the challenges of the Platzier's studying at this course is inspiring.

My personal Challenge: How can someone create or reinforce new habits or skills with the support of a community in different contexts such as personal development, healthy lifestyle, positive thinking, etc".

JHØN AVALØZ

How to get economic benefits from the conservation and restoration of ecosystems? How to integrate new technologies to this work?

Gerardo Cazarín

I think this challenge is pretty cool. Make what needs to be done profitable. Pretty complicated and strong innovation challenge that is not only interesting but necessary.

Dave Carrillo

**My innovation challenge: ** Develop a system to encourage people to vote in the next federal election in México in 2024.

Fabián Antonio Ibarra Medina

That's awesome!! You definitely have my vote. If you achieve that, I would love to know about this.

Nicolás Silva Castro

Hace 4 años

Dave, I recommend that you read a book called the nudge, in the first chapters it deals with some experiments carried out in the United States related to the behavior that humans have in situations such as voting for a candidate. If I remember correctly that chapter is titled "follow the herd". I wish you luck.

Christian Gómez

My challenge could be:

How to improve the comunications in relationships with others. I visualize a app or web page that can teach you skills to comunicate correctly in gamefication mode.

I think this is a pretty cool challenge, I¡ve been thinkin on something similar. I am pretty shure that people need to develope soft skills in order to improve so many areas of their lives. And creating something easy to use could be really powwerfull.

Luis Mario Rivas Hernández

OMG, this is an amazing challenge, I was thinking something like this. My challenge would be "How Can I improve mental health of people using a mobile app and that feels the closeness and overcoming social isolation and distance?"

MaríaJosé Rodríguez Zárate

My challenge would be: How to increase women´s access to the IT sector?

Alberto Benjamín Coral Díaz

That is an interesting question, maybe the way could be adapted the woman empowerment to the IT industry.

Elisa Gonzalez

Hace 2 años

That's a great challenge María!! I would love to help you with your idea!

Nicole Ramirez Cano

Challenge: How to find job opportunities for woman that just finished their sentence in jail for any kind of felony charges? (In US it is really complicated for people in general to find a job having any kind of criminal background but it is worst, I'd say almost impossible for them to get a job with a felony charge.

Carmen Zuniga

creo que el problema que planteas es que no los contratan en trabajos presenciales por el detalle de la interacción personal, en definitiva creo que la pandemia abrió mas campo al trabajo remoto y solitario sin necesidad de interacción personal lo cual en muchos casos pareciera un problema, pero en el reto que mencionas podría ayudar.

Daphne S. Leger

Profesor

Super interesting challenge, thanks for sharing it!

Juan Pablo Jimenez

5.-How to define my innovation challenge

Instead of asking "What´s your problem?" we talk about our innovation challenge.

If you skip the challenge definition you could end up solving the wrong problem.

Challenge definition

How might we?
- Think about the context of our challenge.
- Talk about the problem/opportunity.
- Focus on the target user.
- Impact we wanna have on this user.
- Open vs closed. Not broad, but not so specific that you give the solution.
- Productive constraints: limitations to take into account of the context or user.

"If you already have the answer don't bother answering the question".

REMEMBER that you can innovate in ANYTHING!

Mónica Manrique Monje

How can we help local businesses to be the first market option in their cities, thru technology

Felipe Bernardo González Barranco

Innovation occurs when we face a problem and we don’t know how to tackle it

How might we...?

Leidy Carolina Mosquera Rivera

Yo quiero innovar en el Agro, así que mi gran desafío e romper las barreras que vulneran la seguridad alimentaria a través de la conexión directa entre el pequeño o mediano agricultor (Asociado) con su comprador.

Buena primera definición del reto Leidy! Asegúrate mantener una mente abierta durante las siguientes fases del proyecto que quizás te lleven a soluciones más allá de la "conexión directa" aunque seguramente hay mucho que puedes hacer allí también!

Innovation transforms problems into opportunities

** What is the Innovation Challenge ?**

What problem are you trying to solve?

KEY STEPS CHALLENGE DEFINITION:

Context
Problem/Opportunity
Target user
Impact
Open VS Closed
Productive Constraints

Victor Orlando Gallo Sánchez

How might we improve motivation of students in virtual classes at National University of Trujillo?

Carlos Eduardo Céspedes Angulo

Hi! Here is an article that, I think, could help you to enhance motivation in students for online learning. Enjoy it! :)

Fantastic challenge Victor!

Sebastián Valbuena Silva

In my case, mi work is my innovation challenge, why? because I'm make that in my University our researches and teams researches would be creatives and we could create a product, process or differente innovations that scale the impact of the research.

Please, I need your feedback! tks

Andres Felipe Garcia Ospina

I don't know if I understood, but maybe you should write your innovation challenge something like this.

"Increase impact of University's research team with product, process or different innovations that can be scalable"

I think your challenge is assure that this happens.

Nora María Ocaña Tafur

Juan Wilton Torvisco Salas

My innovation challenge is how to increase awareness and use of ecofriendly products by citizens

great one!

Juan Carlos Ortiz Romero

Desafio de innovación: ¿Cómo podriamos?

Contexto Problema/ oportunidad Usuario Objetivo Impacto Desafio abierto Vs. Cerrado. Limitaciones productivas

Innovacion debil o fuerte

Diego Gallardo

My challenge would be: How to improve billing registration for people who don't have computer skills?

Ana Soraida Beltrán Menjura

Buenas tardes me gastaría innovar mi forma de interacción con los niños de 2 a 3 años de una forma mas lúdica y divertida.

Gran reto! Pequeño tipo: Allí seguramente será relevante/interesante considerar también a los padres de niños para pensar en su perspectiva en este reto :)

Norma Arrieta

Mi reto de innovación es: Cómo podríamos implementar y establecer huertas comunitarias agroecológicas que complementen la dieta alimentaria en los barrios con población vulnerable.

Gran reto Norma!

Eliana Alexandra Zegarra Pajares

Recuerda: PUEDES INNOVAR EN TODO!!!

Productos
Servicios
Clientes
Medio Ambiente
Comunicación
Herramientas
Procesos
Personas
Y más...

Getting into the world of innovation

Innovación Empresarial: De la Idea al Negocio Real

How Might We Statements Define Innovation

Why Innovation Keeps Your Career Relevant

What Innovation Really Is (It's Not Tech)

Design Thinking vs Lean Startup Explained

Listening to your user

User Research Methods That Actually Work

Why Empathy Shapes Better Solutions

How to Turn User Research Into Insights

Creating valuable ideas

Creativity as a Skill You Can Build

Finding Ideas by Borrowing From Other Fields

Brainstorming Rules That Actually Generate Ideas

De idea a concepto: Transformación y priorización efectiva

Considering the outside world

Identificación y Análisis de la Competencia en Negocios

Context Map Canvas for Your Business Idea

Recap

Innovación Empresarial: Estrategias para la Creatividad y el Análisis Competitivo

Putting your ideas to the test

Prototipos: Validación de Ideas Empresariales

Prototipado Efectivo: Qué y Cómo Validar Ideas

Six Prototyping Methods Before You Build Anything

Iterations, Pivots, and Killing Bad Ideas

Going from idea to business

Business Model Canvas Explained in One Page

Business Models That Capture Value

Getting people on board

Why Most Innovations Die Before Launch

How to Pitch Your Idea Using Aristotle

Innovating in the real world

Frugal Innovation: Doing More With Less

Romper Hábitos para Fomentar el Pensamiento Innovador

Entrepreneurial Innovation Skills Course Recap

Habilidades de Innovación para Emprendedores e Intrapreneurs

How Might We Statements Define Innovation