How opportunity solution tree is making product design easier?
User research should aim for actions rather than answers. An opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is a framework that will help UX Researchers, product designers and other partners to devise a set of actions through opportunities.
You’ve come to the right place if you are new to OSTs and want to know more. Teresa Torres’s famous opportunity solution tree for continuous discovery is discussed in this article, along with the procedures to construct one.
Let’s start now!
What is continuous discovery?
Continuous discovery of opportunities requires continuous engagement with the customers. It helps to serve customers in a way that creates value for the business. Teresa Torres defines continuous discovery as -
At a minimum, weekly touchpoints with customers
By the team building the product
Where they conduct small research activities
In pursuit of a desired outcome
The continuous discovery can be easily achieve by using OST framework. On the high level, the Opportunity Solution Tree looks like the below tree -
Now let’s swoop into each space in detail -
1. Outcome Space
The Opportunity solution tree starts with a clear outcome — one that sets the scope for discovery. OST should start by prioritizing the business need — creating value for the business ensures that the team can serve their customers over time. An outcome can be a team mission or a quarterly goal.
Here, I am considering an example of a real estate company whose revenue depends on the number of rental listings on their website. The same example I will be extending in each space of OST.
2. Opportunity Space
Opportunity Framing — This space focuses on the customer. It is made up of Customer needs, pain points and desires. Problem framing is the most important component of the opportunity tree. How we frame the problem will impact how we might solve it. Framing the opportunity from the customer’s perspective helps to identify the appropriate solution.
If I had an hour to solve a design problem, I would spend 55 minutes framing the right question. — Albert Einstein
Opportunity Selection — An infinite number of opportunities can be explored here, making this space a little complicated. A team should collaborate to decide the priority for the opportunities and select those that will achieve the desired outcome.
A note for UXer — This is the space where you try to translate the insights from exploratory research into a form of opportunities. This is a good time for the team to collaborate, discover and explore opportunities together.
3. Solution Space
This is where you brainstorm the tactics or the solutions for each opportunity. The solution can take any form. It can be an improved interaction, an additional link button, or eliminating useless content. Think about possible solutions for the chosen opportunity that will drive the desired outcome.
4. Experimentation Space
Below the solution space is the experimentation space where a team can think about suitable tests to validate whether the solution addresses the opportunity or not.
Continuous discovery happens when researchers do rapid research to keep in touch with their customers.
Benefits of using OST
- The framework will help you to continuously discover unmet customer needs and the solutions that will address those needs.
- The outcome-oriented approach helps to resolve the tension between business needs and customer needs.
- OST unlocks better decision-making and faster learning cycles.
- The process helps to build confidence in the product-making team. And, confidence comes with the power of knowing what to do next.
- OST builds and maintains a shared understanding within the team. This eventually unlocks simpler stakeholder management.
Final words
During my summer internship at Zillow Group, the challenge was thrown at me to pick a suitable project for myself. So, I build the OST and picked a suitable problem statement which will help my team to achieve the vision. OST really helped me to get started with the new domain and work collaboratively with concerned stakeholders.
If you are dreaming about building your own product or achieving impact at your workplace, then definitely add this book by Teresa Torres to your reading list.
There are a number of tools in the market that allow you to use the OST template. Below are some links-
Mural — https://www.mural.co/templates/opportunity-solution-tree-
Miro — osthttps://miro.com/templates/opportunity-solution-
FigJam — tree/https://www.figma.com/templates/opportunity-solution-
Lucidpartk — tree/https://lucidspark.com/templates/opportunity-solution-tree
Whiteboards — https://whiteboards.io/templates/opportunity-solution-tree/