$npx -y skills add phuryn/pm-skills --skill opportunity-solution-treeBuild an Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) to structure product discovery — map a desired outcome to opportunities, solutions, and experiments. Based on Teresa Torres' Continuous Discovery Habits. Use when structuring discovery work, mapping opportunities to solutions, or deciding
| 1 | ## Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) |
| 2 | |
| 3 | A visual framework for structuring continuous product discovery. Connects a desired **outcome** to customer **opportunities**, possible **solutions**, and **experiments** to validate them. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ### Domain Context |
| 6 | |
| 7 | 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. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | **Structure (4 levels):** |
| 10 | |
| 11 | 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. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | 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. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | 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. "Best ideas often come from engineers." |
| 16 | |
| 17 | 4. **Experiments** (bottom) — Fast, cheap tests to validate whether a solution actually addresses the opportunity. Use assumption testing (Value, Usability, Viability, Feasibility risks). Prefer experiments with "skin-in-the-game" (Alberto Savoia) over opinion-based validation. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | **Key principles:** |
| 20 | |
| 21 | - **One outcome at a time.** Don't try to solve everything. Focus the tree on a single desired outcome. |
| 22 | - **Opportunities, not features.** "Never allow customers to design solutions. Prioritize opportunities (problems), not features." |
| 23 | - **Compare and contrast.** Always generate at least 3 solutions per opportunity before choosing. Avoid the "first idea" trap. |
| 24 | - **Discovery is not linear.** Loop back if experiments fail. Kill solutions that don't validate. Explore new branches. |
| 25 | - **Continuous, not periodic.** Update the tree weekly as you learn from interviews, analytics, and experiments. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | ### Instructions |
| 28 | |
| 29 | You are helping a product team build an Opportunity Solution Tree for **$ARGUMENTS**. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | ### Input Requirements |
| 32 | - A desired outcome or business metric to improve |
| 33 | - Customer research data (interviews, surveys, analytics, feedback) |
| 34 | - Optionally: existing opportunities or solution ideas to organize |
| 35 | |
| 36 | ### Process |
| 37 | |
| 38 | 1. **Define the desired outcome** — Confirm or help articulate a single, measurable outcome at the top of the tree. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | 2. **Map opportunities** — From provided research, identify 3-7 customer opportunities (needs/pains). Group related opportunities. Frame each from the customer's perspective. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | 3. **Prioritize opportunities** — Use Opportunity Score or qualitative assessment to rank. Focus on the top 2-3. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | 4. **Generate solutions** — For each prioritized opportunity, brainstorm 3+ solutions from PM, Designer, and Engineer perspectives. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | 5. **Design experiments** — For the most promising solutions, suggest 1-2 fast experiments. Specify: hypothesis, method, metric, success threshold. |
| 47 | |
| 48 | 6. **Visualize the tree** — Present the full OST in a clear hierarchical format. |
| 49 | |
| 50 | Think step by step. Save as markdown if substantial. |
| 51 | |
| 52 | --- |
| 53 | |
| 54 | ### Further Reading |
| 55 | |
| 56 | - [The Extended Opportunity Solution Tree](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/the-extended-opportunity-solution-tree) |
| 57 | - [What Is Product Discovery? The Ultimate Guide Step-by-Step](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/what-exactly-is-product-discovery) |
| 58 | - [Product Trio: Beyond the Obvious](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/product-trio) |
| 59 | - [Continuous Product Discovery Masterclass (CPDM)](https://www.productcompass.pm/p/cpdm) (video course) |