A visual framework for structuring continuous product discovery. Connects a desired outcome to customer opportunities , possible solutions , and experiments to validate them.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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Define the desired outcome — Confirm or help articulate a single, measurable outcome at the top of the tree.
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Map opportunities — From provided research, identify 3-7 customer opportunities (needs/pains). Group related opportunities. Frame each from the customer's perspective.
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Prioritize opportunities — Use Opportunity Score or qualitative assessment to rank. Focus on the top 2-3.
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Generate solutions — For each prioritized opportunity, brainstorm 3+ solutions from PM, Designer, and Engineer perspectives.
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Design experiments — For the most promising solutions, suggest 1-2 fast experiments. Specify: hypothesis, method, metric, success threshold.
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Visualize the tree — Present the full OST in a clear hierarchical format.
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