A repeatable path from insight to a shortlist worth building
Design-thinking ideation gives you the creative rules. A product ideation framework gives you the funnel: how a validated insight becomes a How Might We question, becomes a wide set of ideas, becomes a small set of concepts worth testing.
Step-by-step lessons
From Insight to Shortlist
Four short lessons: the ideation funnel, writing How Might We questions, generating ideas at product scale, and evaluating what you generate.
1
The Ideation Funnel
Product ideation works best as a funnel: it starts wide with evidence and narrows step by
step toward something you can actually build and test.
1
Insight
A validated finding from research — the raw material everything else is built from.
2
How Might We question
The insight reframed as an open, optimistic prompt.
3
Ideas
A wide set generated from the HMW question — quantity over quality here.
4
Concepts
The strongest few ideas, fleshed out enough to evaluate properly.
5
Shortlist
Concepts ranked and ready for prototyping.
Quick check
Where does a validated user insight belong in the ideation funnel?
2
Writing How Might We Questions
A How Might We (HMW) question reframes an insight as an open,
solution-neutral prompt. Scope it carefully: too broad and it produces noise; too narrow
and it's already a solution in disguise.
Too broad
"How might we improve retention?"
Could point anywhere. Loses the specific insight it should be built from.
Well-scoped
"How might we help new sellers price with confidence?"
Grounded in a specific insight, open enough for many possible answers.
Too narrow
"How might we add a price-suggestion tooltip?"
Already names a solution — forecloses other ways to solve the same need.
Quick check
Which is the best-scoped HMW question, given the insight "new sellers abandon listing at the pricing step because they don't know competitive prices"?
3
Generating Ideas at Product Scale
Beyond open brainstorming, a few sources reliably produce stronger product ideas by
pulling from outside the room or forcing a new angle.
Analogous inspiration
Borrow a proven pattern from a different industry solving a structurally similar problem.
Constraint-based ideation
"What if we had zero budget?" or "shipped in a day?" — artificial limits force unconventional ideas.
Mining customer language
Read support tickets and reviews for recurring suggestions — then reframe as an HMW, not a literal build order.
Quick check
A team studying restaurant reservation apps for inspiration on their own healthcare booking flow is using which technique?
4
Desirability, Feasibility, Viability
Once you have concepts, judge each on three lenses. A strong idea clears all three
reasonably well — acing just one isn't enough.
Desirability
Do users actually want this? Grounded in research, not a hunch.
Feasibility
Can we build it with the technology, skills, and time we have?
Viability
Does it make sense for the business — cost, revenue, strategic fit?
Quick check
A brilliant idea scores extremely high on desirability but the team has no way to build it with current technology or skills. What lens is failing?
Review the concepts
Product Ideation Flashcards
6 cards covering the essentials. Click a card to flip it.
FoundationCard 1 of 6
Ideation Funnel
Click to flip
Tip: say the answer out loud before flipping.
Explanation
In practice
1 / 6
Apply what you learned
Practice Scenarios
15 situations that test whether you can scope a How Might We question, pick the right ideation source, or spot which evaluation lens is failing.
Scenario 1
A team skips writing a How Might We question and jumps straight from "users are confused at checkout" to brainstorming feature ideas.
What's the risk?
Scenario 2
An HMW question reads: "How might we build a loyalty points system?"
What's wrong with it?
Scenario 3
A fintech team studies how airlines handle overbooking and delay compensation while ideating a refund-dispute feature.
What technique is this?
Scenario 4
A team is stuck and someone proposes: "What if we had to ship this with zero engineers, just no-code tools, by Friday?"
What technique is being used?
Scenario 5
An idea scores high on feasibility and viability, but user interviews consistently show nobody wants it.
Which lens is failing?
Scenario 6
A concept clears desirability and feasibility easily, but the cost to build and maintain it exceeds any plausible revenue.
Which lens is failing?
Scenario 7
A PM mines support tickets and finds many customers requesting "please let us export to Excel."
What's the ideation-framework move?
Scenario 8
A team writes an HMW so broad — "how might we make our product better?" — that the brainstorm produces unrelated ideas from everyone.
What's the fix?
Scenario 9
A team has three concepts. One is highly desirable and feasible, but relies on giving the product away free — a model the company can't sustain.
What should happen?
Scenario 10
A team generates fifty ideas from an HMW question but has no way to organize or evaluate them.
What's the next funnel step?
Scenario 11
A team ideating a checkout improvement studies how video-game stores handle one-click, saved-payment purchases.
What kind of ideation source is this?
Scenario 12
A stakeholder says an idea "feels desirable" based on their own personal preference, with no user research behind it.
What's the concern?
Scenario 13
A team's ideation funnel has no insight feeding the top — ideas are generated from a leadership offsite with no research behind them.
What's the risk?
Scenario 14
Two concepts tie on desirability and feasibility. One is a much bigger strategic bet; the other a small, safe improvement.
What should break the tie?
Scenario 15
A team develops a concept fully — mockups, spec, cost estimate — before ever writing a How Might We question or gathering an insight.
What went wrong with their process?
Lock it in
Guess the Term
Read the clues and name the concept. The fewer clues you need, the more points you score.