Opportunity Solution Tree
Design Processes
A diagram connecting a business outcome to user needs to possible solutions to experiments.
In practice
The opportunity solution tree, from Teresa Torres, is a visual map: one desired outcome at the top, branching into the customer opportunities — needs, pains, desires — that could drive it, then into candidate solutions for each, then into the experiments that would test them. It forces a team to consider several paths before committing, and to trace any feature back to the outcome it serves.
Questions
What is Opportunity Solution Tree?
An opportunity solution tree is a structured diagram linking a target outcome to user opportunities, solution ideas and the experiments that validate them.
Why do you use Opportunity Solution Tree?
It stops teams jumping from problem to the first solution, and it makes the reasoning behind a roadmap visible and debatable.
How do you use/apply Opportunity Solution Tree?
State the outcome, populate opportunities from discovery interviews, brainstorm several solutions per opportunity, define small tests, and prune as evidence arrives.
When do you use Opportunity Solution Tree?
When deciding what to build next, and continuously as discovery updates it.
Who uses Opportunity Solution Tree?
Product trios — design, product, engineering — and anyone prioritising work.
