Product Discovery Mapping tool

Opportunity Solution Tree

Guides continuous discovery from an outcome through customer needs to tested solution paths.

The Opportunity Solution Tree visualizes possible paths to a desired result: outcome, customer opportunities, solutions and tests of their assumptions. The map evolves with new evidence.

Core question

Which evidence-grounded paths can achieve the desired outcome through customer needs and tested solutions?

Plan the discovery rhythm Method guide

Start comparison

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Participants: 2-6
Time: Ongoing practice

Opportunity Solution Trees express an ongoing learning path; each solution remains an option until evidence informs a decision.

Paper illustration of a branching tree with an outcome at its root, customer opportunities, solution options and small experiment cards.

Outcome
Define a team-controllable outcome
A desired outcome bounds discovery and connects customer value with business value.
Opportunities
Structure customer opportunities
Opportunities are needs, pain points or desires that could support the outcome if addressed.
Focus
Choose a target opportunity
The team chooses a relevant opportunity within its discovery focus.
Solutions
Explore multiple solution paths
Solutions are developed under the selected target opportunity.
Learn
Test assumptions and update the tree
Tests help evaluate which solution options support the opportunity and outcome.

Update the tree after interviews, observations and experiments. Keep discarded paths traceable as learning history.

A good fit when

Use it for continuous product discovery when a team needs to connect outcomes, customer needs and solution learning.

Ideal for

Continuous discovery
Product triads
Experiment planning

Not good for

Pure delivery tracking
Architecture documentation

Outputs

Outcome
A measurable result within discovery influence.
Opportunity space
Structured needs with sources and open interpretations.
Solution and test paths
Alternative solutions, risky assumptions, experiments and follow-up decisions.

Opportunity Solution Tree

Fictional teaching example

The tree levels are outcome, customer opportunities, solution options and tests of critical assumptions. The tree shows hypotheses and learning paths, not a project plan.

Outcome

Which team-controllable result should improve?

Fictional outcome: increase completed loans as a share of all reservation requests in the pilot area from 20% to 35% over eight weeks. All figures are invented.

Customer opportunities

Which needs, pain points or desires from concrete customer situations could influence the outcome?

Fictional research hypothesis: uncertainty about availability complicates planning. No customer evidence yet.

Target opportunity

Which opportunity will guide the next discovery cycle, and why?

Fictional choice: clarity about reservation status because it precedes the planned loan.

Solution options

What different approaches could address this opportunity?

Fictional: firm reservation confirmation · callback · self-service status.

Assumptions and tests

Which risky assumption will each test examine, and what decision follows?

Fictional: a prototype test checks whether people understand the status; real user sessions are still needed.

All entries are fictional. Opportunities should come from discovery; team knowledge alone is not customer evidence.

Source: Teresa Torres, Product Talk

First step

Define a team outcome, target user and available customer learning. Teresa Torres recommends three to four story-based interviews as input for a first opportunity tree.

Open the method guide

Good to do first

Paper illustration of a JTBD interview notebook with a decision timeline, forces of change and a concise job hypothesis.

Product Discovery

Jobs to Be Done

Supplies the job hypothesis as the outcome-near starting point of the tree.

Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.

UX Research

User Interviews

Supplies the story-based conversations from which opportunities emerge.

Where to go next?

Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.

Product Discovery

Assumption Mapping

Breaks the riskiest assumption of a solution option into a test plan.

Product Discovery

Riskiest Assumption Test

Tests the identified assumption with the cheapest fitting test.

Deep dive

Purpose

When discovery keeps swinging between goals, ideas, and learning loops, it creates clear steering logic. It connects the desired outcome, opportunities, and experiments into a legible structure.

How it works

It holds outcome, opportunities, solution paths, and tests together in a tree logic and shows where learning is currently stuck. Every branch makes visible which assumption determines the next sensible step and which idea still lacks evidence.

In detail

The tree logic holds up because it makes outcomes, opportunities, solution approaches, and experiments visible as one connected decision structure. Good use keeps opportunities tightly tied to observed user problems and protects the tree from idea-driven branching without evidence. This clarifies which solution is just one candidate among several and which assumption the next learning step really depends on.

Facilitation

Start with a clearly formulated outcome and only opportunities that come from solid evidence. Things sharpen when several solutions dock onto the same opportunity and a comparison becomes possible. Close with a focused subtree, the main uncertainties, and an explicit order for the next tests.

The method guide walks execution through 5 phases, timing, 5 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.

Open method guide

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Does this method help with your work?

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Sources and topics

Topics

Discovery Outcomes Experiments Opportunity

Sources

Opportunity Solution Trees | Teresa Torresproducttalk.orgPrimary source for outcome → opportunities → solutions → assumption tests, and team and research prerequisites.Why This Opportunity Solution Tree Is Changing the Way Product Teams Work | Teresa Torresproducttalk.orgOriginal introduction to the method; the guide follows Teresa Torres’s maintained Product Talk article.

In playbooks

Start Product DiscoveryMove from a vague product idea to a clear target group, problem hypotheses, and first learning steps.Improve Service ExperienceMove from visible pain points to frontstage, backstage, and ownership improvements.

Artifact templates

Opportunity Solution Tree: WorksheetPlan the initial setup and ongoing rhythm for outcomes, opportunities, solutions and tests.

markdown

opportunity-solution-tree-outline.md

Plan the initial setup and ongoing rhythm for outcomes, opportunities, solutions and tests.

Opportunity Solution Tree: Worksheet

Question

To be confirmed

Desired outcome

To be confirmed

Scope

Structure continuous discovery Time: Ongoing practice; no total timebox

Complete this worksheet on paper or in your own document during the work.

Preparation for this scope

Method setup

Materials: Outcome definition, sourced research notes, opportunity clusters, a shared tree and space for solution hypotheses and experiment cards.
Roles: A product trio or cross-functional team with product, design/research and engineering; discovery ownership keeps the tree and evidence current.
Advance information: Gather the outcome, target user and current product or customer evidence. Separate customer statements from interpretation.
Overall time needed: Not a one-off workshop. Allow about 1–2 hours to frame the first tree; interviews, tests and updates continue across discovery cycles.
Setup: Place the outcome above opportunities, solutions under the selected opportunity and experiments against solution assumptions. Deepen one target opportunity at a time.

Prepare for the work steps

Outcome: Define a team-controllable outcome

Product strategy and target user
Available metric or observable behavior indicator

Opportunities: Structure customer opportunities

Story-based customer interviews or observations
Outcome and existing opportunity notes

Focus: Choose a target opportunity

Outcome
Opportunity map and related customer notes

Solutions: Explore multiple solution paths

Target opportunity and outcome signal
Product, design and technical perspectives

Learn: Test assumptions and update the tree

Solution options and explicit assumptions
Access to suitable users or data