Opportunity Solution Tree Mapping

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Opportunity Mapping tasks - Working on build opportunity solution trees using teresa torres' continuous discovery methodology. structure discovery from outcomes to opportunities to solutions to experiments
• Planning or design - Need guidance on Opportunity Mapping approaches
• Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

Overview

Opportunity Solution Trees (OST) are a visual framework developed by Teresa Torres for structuring continuous product discovery. They connect business outcomes to customer needs (opportunities) to solutions to experiments, creating clear traceability for product decisions.

The Tree Structure

                    ┌────────────────────┐
                    │      OUTCOME       │
                    │  (Business Goal)   │
                    └─────────┬──────────┘
                              │
          ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
          │                   │                   │
    ┌─────┴─────┐       ┌─────┴─────┐       ┌─────┴─────┐
    │ Opportunity│       │ Opportunity│       │ Opportunity│
    │    (Need)  │       │   (Need)   │       │   (Need)   │
    └─────┬─────┘       └─────┬─────┘       └─────┬─────┘
          │                   │                   │
    ┌─────┼─────┐       ┌─────┼─────┐       ┌─────┼─────┐
    │     │     │       │     │     │       │     │     │
   Sol   Sol   Sol     Sol   Sol   Sol     Sol   Sol   Sol
    │     │     │       │     │     │       │     │     │
   Exp   Exp   Exp     Exp   Exp   Exp     Exp   Exp   Exp

Layer Definitions

Layer 1: Outcome

The measurable business goal the team is trying to achieve.

Good outcomes are:

• Measurable (specific metric)
• Achievable (team can influence)
• Timebound (has a deadline)
• Customer-focused (driven by customer value)

Examples:

• "Increase weekly active users by 20% in Q1"
• "Reduce time-to-first-value from 7 days to 1 day"
• "Improve NPS from 32 to 50 by end of year"

Anti-patterns:

• ❌ "Launch feature X" (output, not outcome)
• ❌ "Be the best product" (not measurable)
• ❌ "Increase revenue" (too vague)

Layer 2: Opportunities

Customer needs, pain points, or desires that, if addressed, would drive the outcome.

Good opportunities are:

• Customer-focused (not company-focused)
• Generative (suggest multiple solutions)
• Solution-agnostic (don't imply specific solution)

Discovery Methods:

• Customer interviews
• Usability testing
• Support ticket analysis
• Survey responses
• Usage analytics
• Competitor analysis

Opportunity Statement Template:

[Customer segment] needs a way to [need/desire]
because [context/reason].

Example:

New developers need a way to understand unfamiliar codebases
because onboarding documentation is often outdated or incomplete.

Layer 3: Solutions

Ideas for how to address opportunities. Multiple solutions per opportunity.

Brainstorming Guidelines:

• Generate at least 3 solutions per opportunity
• Include wild/creative ideas
• Consider low-effort solutions
• Look for multi-opportunity solutions

Solution Types:

• Feature additions
• UX improvements
• Content/documentation
• Integrations
• Workflow changes
• Automation

Layer 4: Assumption Tests (Experiments)

Small, fast experiments to de-risk solutions before building.

Assumption Categories:

• Desirability: Will customers want this?
• Viability: Does this make business sense?
• Feasibility: Can we build this?
• Usability: Can customers use this?
• Ethical: Should we build this?

Experiment Types:

• Customer interviews
• Prototype tests
• Fake door tests
• Concierge tests
• A/B tests
• Surveys

Building the Tree

Step 1: Define Outcome

Work with leadership to clarify:

1. What metric are we trying to move?
2. What is the current baseline?
3. What is the target?
4. By when?
5. Why this metric?

Step 2: Discover Opportunities

Weekly Customer Interviews:

• Interview 1-3 customers per week
• Use consistent interview structure
• Create "interview snapshots" (1-page summaries)
• Synthesize opportunities across interviews

Interview Snapshot Template:

Date: [Date]
Customer: [Name/Type]
Context: [Their situation]

Key Insights:
1. [Insight]
2. [Insight]
3. [Insight]

Opportunities Identified:
- [Opportunity]
- [Opportunity]

Quotes:
- "[Notable quote]"

Step 3: Map Opportunities

Opportunity Mapping Session:

1. Review recent interview snapshots
2. Cluster similar opportunities
3. Identify parent/child relationships
4. Place on tree under outcome
5. Prioritize by impact and frequency

Prioritization Factors:

• Frequency: How often does this come up?
• Intensity: How painful is this?
• Breadth: How many customers affected?
• Strategic fit: Does this align with company strategy?

Step 4: Ideate Solutions

For each high-priority opportunity:

1. Set timer for 10 minutes
2. Generate 15-20 solution ideas
3. Don't evaluate during ideation
4. Mix incremental and radical ideas
5. Select top 3-5 for further exploration

Step 5: Identify Assumptions

For each solution, list assumptions:

Assumption Type	Question	Risk Level
Desirability	Will users want this?	High
Usability	Can users figure this out?	Medium
Feasibility	Can we build this in 2 weeks?	Low
Viability	Will this cannibalize paid plan?	Medium

Step 6: Design Experiments

For each risky assumption:

1. What's the smallest test possible?
2. What would "success" look like?
3. What would "failure" look like?
4. How long will it take?

Continuous Discovery Habits

Weekly Rhythm

Day	Activity
Monday	Interview prep, review upcoming interviews
Tuesday-Wednesday	Conduct 1-2 customer interviews
Thursday	Create interview snapshots, update tree
Friday	Team sync, decide next experiments

Interview Best Practices

Do:

• Ask about past behavior (not future intent)
• Use specific examples ("Tell me about the last time...")
• Ask follow-up "why" questions
• Let silence work
• Take verbatim notes

Don't:

• Lead with your solution
• Ask yes/no questions
• Ask about hypothetical future
• Interrupt stories
• Multi-task during interview

Story-Based Interviewing

Instead of: "Would you use a feature that...?"

Ask: "Tell me about the last time you had to [job]. Walk me through what happened."

Follow-up Probes:

• "What happened next?"
• "How did that make you feel?"
• "What did you try?"
• "What was hard about that?"

AI-Assisted Opportunity Mapping

Tree Generation

Given an outcome and customer research, generate:

1. 5-7 opportunity clusters
2. Hierarchical opportunity structure
3. 3+ solution ideas per opportunity
4. Key assumptions per solution

Interview Analysis

From interview transcripts:

1. Extract key insights
2. Identify opportunities
3. Capture notable quotes
4. Create interview snapshot

Assumption Prioritization

For a solution, generate:

1. Complete assumption list (DVFUE)
2. Risk assessment per assumption
3. Suggested experiment types
4. Prioritized testing order

Mermaid Visualization

Generate tree as Mermaid diagram:

graph TD
    O[Outcome: Reduce churn by 20%]
    O --> OP1[Need: Faster onboarding]
    O --> OP2[Need: Better support]
    O --> OP3[Need: Feature parity]

    OP1 --> S1A[Interactive tutorial]
    OP1 --> S1B[Video walkthrough]

    OP2 --> S2A[AI chatbot]
    OP2 --> S2B[Community forum]

Integration Points

Inputs from:

• jtbd-analysis skill: Underserved outcomes → Opportunities
• design-thinking skill: User needs → Opportunities
• Customer research → Interview snapshots

Outputs to:

• lean-startup skill: Prioritized solutions → MVPs
• assumption-testing skill: Assumptions → Experiments
• Engineering backlog: Validated solutions → Stories

References

For additional Opportunity Mapping resources, see: