Opportunity Solution Tree

Opportunity Solution Tree (OST)

A visual framework for structuring continuous product discovery. Connects a desired outcome to customer opportunities, possible solutions, and experiments to validate them.

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 the team is 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. These are problems worth solving — not features. Frame them from the customer's perspective: "I struggle to..." or "I wish I could..." Prioritize using Opportunity Score: Importance × (1 − Satisfaction) (Dan Olsen, The Lean Product Playbook). Normalize Importance and Satisfaction to 0–1.