Abstract
How you word a problem decides which solutions you'll think of. Abstraction laddering puts your problem statement in the middle of a ladder so you can move it up or down.
Asking why moves you up, toward the purpose behind the request. "Add a reminder feature" might become "help people remember their medication", and some answers to that have nothing to do with an app. Asking how moves you down, toward something you could start tomorrow. The best framing is often a rung or two away from where you began.
Method
- 01
Write the starting statement
Put the problem in the middle, worded the way you'd normally say it.
- 02
Ask why to go up
Ask why it matters and write the answer above as a broader statement. Do this two or three times.
- 03
Ask how to go down
From any rung, ask how you'd do it and write the answer below as something more concrete.
- 04
Try more than one answer
Most why and how questions have several answers. Write a few and see which ones change the problem.
- 05
Pick a framing
Choose the rung that feels most useful and turn it into a question starting with "How might we".
When to use it
- A brief starts with a solution, like "build an app", before anyone has said what the problem is.
- The problem feels too vague to start on or too narrow to be interesting.
- You want a few different directions before you commit to one.
Common pitfalls
- Going so high that the statement means nothing, like "make people happy".
- Going so low that you're writing a task list.
- Taking the first answer to why or how. The second or third is often better.
Origin and references
Attributed to Wes O'Haire (Dropbox), building on Stanford d.school why-how laddering.
- O'Haire, W. Abstraction laddering. Dropbox Design.
- Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. Why-How Laddering. d.school method card.