How systems thinking changes the way we frame design challenges
Most of the problems we all work on are systemic problems that demand a system level response. But when the design process begins, the sector still tends to start with a product or a programme based approach. Not because we do not understand the complexity - but because our most-loved design tools push us toward solutions we can build and gaps we can fill, rather than systems we can shift.
This leap often happens through a single, familiar tool - "How might we" question.
HMW questions are extremely popular and genuinely useful. They move teams from research to possibility. But the way a HMW question is framed can just as easily close down thinking as open it up. With the wrong HMW, a systems challenge becomes a programme question. A programme question becomes a product question. And once the question narrows, the solutions follow.
We call this the HMW Ladder - and most design processes - even those with a systems level ambition, start at the bottom rung without realising it.
The three rungs: Product, Programme, System
For example, take a team aiming to improve employment outcomes for young women.
Product HMW
At the product level, the question sounds like this: How might we build an app to teach digital skills?
The solution is already baked in. The conversation goes straight to features, platforms, and usability. The wider picture never comes up. This is a common start point.
Programme / service HMW
Move up one rung: How might we provide digital skills training for young women?
This feels more open - but it still assumes that access to training is the binding constraint. It does not ask why previous training did not lead to work. It does not ask what happens after a woman completes a course and steps back into the same conditions that limited her before.
System HMW
At the system level, the question shifts: How might we create real pathways from skills to work for young women?
This is the real question, and the right start point for solving systems challenges. Teams start looking at employer hiring practices, mobility and safety, family expectations, informal networks, access to childcare, local labour market conditions. The response stops being a product and starts being a set of connected decisions across the system.
It's the same topic, but a very different design space.
Why it matters which rung you start on
The HMW question often gets defined very early on in the process - often before the real complexity has had a chance to surface. And once it is written, it tends to stick. It shapes what the team looks for, what gets explored, what gets built.
A narrowly framed question produces a narrowly designed solution. That solution might be technically excellent, beautifully designed, and still miss the point entirely.
This is not an argument against products or services. A well-designed platform, embedded in the right conditions, can be genuinely transformative. But systems thinking asks you to start somewhere different - not with what to build, but with a complete, clear-eyed look at what is actually in the way.
The most important design decision is often not the solution. It is the question that defines the problem in the first place.
If you would like to hear more about our systems-level design approach, get in touch: hello@hereiamstudio.com
