Product and strategy
Opportunity solution tree
A tree from one outcome down to the customer opportunities that could drive it, the solutions for each, and how to test them.
- Time45 to 90 minutes
- People2 to 8 people
- Steps4
What it's for
Product teams tend to jump from a goal straight to features. The tree inserts the missing layer: the customer needs, pains and desires (opportunities) that would move the outcome. Solutions then hang off a specific opportunity, which makes it obvious when a feature serves nobody.
Fill opportunities from research, not from the team's imagination.
How to run it
Set the outcome5 min
One measurable outcome the team owns.
Map opportunities15 min
Customer needs and pains that could move the outcome, from research.
Choose a target5 min1 votes each
Vote on the opportunity to focus on now.
Generate solutions and tests20 min
Several solutions for the target opportunity, and a cheap test for the riskiest assumption in each.
Tips
- Compare solutions for one opportunity at a time. Comparing across opportunities is comparing apples and oranges.
- An opportunity is something a customer would say, not a feature.
Where it comes from
Developed by Teresa Torres and described in Continuous Discovery Habits (2021).
Pairs well with
How might we
Turn problems and insights into questions that start with "How might we", which invite ideas instead of arguments.
Hypothesis statement
Write an idea as a testable belief: what we'll build, for whom, the outcome we expect, and the signal that will show we were right.
Assumption map
Place every assumption behind a plan by how important it is and how much evidence you have, to find what to test first.