Opportunity Solution Trees

Domain Context

The Opportunity Solution Tree (Teresa Torres, Continuous Discovery Habits) is the backbone of modern product discovery. It prevents teams from jumping to solutions by forcing them to first map the opportunity space.

Structure (4 levels):

1. Desired Outcome (top) — The measurable business or product outcome you're pursuing. Should be a single, clear metric (e.g., "increase 7-day retention to 40%"). This comes from your OKRs or product strategy.

2. Opportunities (second level) — Customer needs, pain points, or desires discovered through research. Frame them from the customer's perspective: "I struggle to..." or "I wish I could..." Prioritize using Opportunity Score: Importance × (1 − Satisfaction) (Dan Olsen).

3. Solutions (third level) — Possible ways to address each opportunity. Generate multiple solutions per opportunity — don't commit to the first idea. The Product Trio (PM + Designer + Engineer) should ideate together.

4. Experiments (bottom) — Fast, cheap tests to validate whether a solution addresses the opportunity. Use assumption testing (Value, Usability, Viability, Feasibility).