Creating Opportunity Solution Trees

An Opportunity Solution Tree is a visual diagram that helps product teams map out multiple paths from a specific desired outcome to opportunities and down to potential solutions. It facilitates a structured approach to problem-solving and decision-making, ensuring that exploration is thorough and aligned with end goals.

Goal

The goal of creating an Opportunity Solution Tree is to systematically identify and evaluate different opportunities and solutions that lead to achieving a desired outcome, enabling teams to prioritise efforts that offer the highest potential impact.

Context

There are often multiple paths to achieving a desired outcome, and it's essential for product teams to explore and evaluate these paths systematically. By creating Opportunity Solution Trees, teams can ensure that they are considering a wide range of opportunities and solutions, fostering innovation and strategic thinking.

Inputs

ArtifactDescription
Research RepositoryA centralised database or repository of all the outputs of the primary and secondary research.

Outputs

ArtifactDescriptionBenefits
OpportunitiesA comprehensive list of opportunities that the team is considering, including brief descriptions.
  • Provides a clear overview of the opportunities being considered
  • Helps in identifying the most promising opportunities
  • Facilitates team alignment and decision-making
Opportunity Solution TreeA comprehensive visual map linking desired outcomes to opportunities and solutions.
  • Guides strategic planning and prioritisation
  • Fosters alignment and clarity within the team

Anti-patterns

  • Overcomplication: Making the tree too complex, which can overwhelm the team and obscure clear paths to outcomes.
  • Solution Bias: Jumping too quickly to solutions without fully exploring opportunities, potentially missing out on innovative approaches.
  • Static Trees: Failing to update the tree as new information is learned, leading to outdated assumptions and missed opportunities.
  • Lack of Diverse Perspectives: Creating the tree in a silo without input from various team members, limiting the breadth of explored opportunities.

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