samarv/ost-builder

OST Builder

Create and maintain Opportunity Solution Trees that guide continuous discovery and product decisions.

What is an Opportunity Solution Tree?

A visual tree with four layers:

1. Outcome (root) - The business/product result you're driving toward
2. Opportunities - Unmet needs, pain points, and desires from customers
3. Solutions - Ideas to address those opportunities
4. Assumption Tests - Experiments to validate solutions

Purpose

Shift teams from being told "build these features" to figuring out "what should we build to achieve this outcome?"

The tree adds structure to an otherwise messy, wide-open problem.

Tree Structure

                    [OUTCOME]
                        |
        +--------------+--------------+
        |              |              |
   [OPPORTUNITY]  [OPPORTUNITY]  [OPPORTUNITY]
        |              |              |
    +---+---+      +---+---+      +---+---+
    |   |   |      |   |   |      |   |   |
   [S] [S] [S]    [S] [S] [S]    [S] [S] [S]
    |              |              |
  [TEST]         [TEST]         [TEST]

Key principles:

• ONE outcome at the root
• Opportunities organized by experience map phases
• Multiple solutions per opportunity (enables comparison)
• Tests under each solution being pursued

Layer 1: Outcome

The root of your tree. A single, measurable business/product goal.

Good Outcomes

• "Increase trial-to-paid conversion from 12% to 18%"
• "Reduce time-to-first-value from 7 days to 2 days"
• "Increase daily active users by 25%"
• "Reduce customer support tickets by 40%"

Bad Outcomes

• "Build a better product" (not measurable)
• "Make users happy" (vague)
• "Launch feature X" (output, not outcome)

Outcome Template

[Outcome]: [Metric] from [current] to [target] by [date]
Why it matters: [Business impact]
How we'll measure: [Specific metric definition]

Layer 2: Opportunities

Customer needs organized by experience map phases.

Structure by Experience Map

Group opportunities by the customer journey:

Example: Project Management Tool

1. Getting Started Phase

   • "I don't know where to begin setting up my workspace"
   • "I can't import my existing work from other tools"

2. Daily Planning Phase

   • "I can't see all my tasks across projects in one view"
   • "I spend too much time updating task status"

3. Collaboration Phase

   • "I can't tell who's blocked waiting on me"
   • "I have to repeat context in multiple places"

4. Progress Tracking Phase

   • "I can't show my progress to stakeholders quickly"
   • "I don't know if I'm on track to hit my deadline"

Vertical Depth

Opportunities should decompose vertically:

[Big Opportunity]: "I can't manage my time across calendars"
    |
    +-- [Medium]: "I can't see all my meetings in one place"
    |       |
    |       +-- [Small]: "I have to check 3 different apps"
    |
    +-- [Medium]: "I miss meetings because they're not synced"
            |
            +-- [Small]: "My phone doesn't alert me for work calendar events"

Each level should be:

• More specific than its parent
• A contributing factor to the parent
• Actionable (can generate solution ideas)

Opportunity Quality Checklist

• [ ] Written as a need, not a solution
• [ ] Specific and concrete
• [ ] Traceable to customer interview
• [ ] Tagged with experience map phase
• [ ] Includes supporting evidence (quote)

Layer 3: Solutions

Ideas to address opportunities. MULTIPLE solutions per opportunity.

Why Multiple Solutions?

Compare and contrast to:

• Avoid over-committing to first idea
• Find better approaches through comparison
• Reduce confirmation bias
• Enable parallel testing

Minimum: 3 solutions per opportunity you're pursuing

Solution Diversity

For opportunity: "I can't see all my tasks across projects in one view"

Solution 1 (Aggregation): "All Tasks" view that shows every task from every project in a master list

Solution 2 (Smart filtering): Dynamic filters that remember your most common task queries

Solution 3 (Dashboard): Customizable dashboard with task widgets you can arrange

Solution 4 (Search-first): Powerful search that surfaces tasks as you type your intent

Solution Template

[Solution]: [Brief description of the idea]
How it addresses the opportunity: [Connection to customer need]
Assumptions:
- [Key assumption 1]
- [Key assumption 2]
- [Key assumption 3]
Status: [Idea | Testing | Validated | Invalidated | Shipped]

Layer 4: Assumption Tests

Experiments to validate (or invalidate) solutions before building them.

Identify Assumptions

Every solution has underlying assumptions. Make them explicit.

Solution: "Smart filtering that remembers common queries"

Assumptions:

1. Users have repeated query patterns (not random searches)
2. Users will notice and use auto-suggested filters
3. Remembering queries saves meaningful time vs. recreating them
4. 5 saved filters is the right amount (not too many, not too few)

Test Design

For each critical assumption, design a small test.

Assumption: "Users will notice and use auto-suggested filters"

Test Options:

• Fake door test: Add the UI element but have it "coming soon" - measure clicks
• Wizard of Oz: Manually create suggested filters for 10 users, track usage
• Prototype test: Clickable mock with 5 users, observe if they discover it
• Concierge: Manually create filters for users, ask if they use them

Pick the test that:

• Validates the riskiest assumption first
• Can be run in less than 1 week
• Requires minimal build effort
• Gives clear signal (not ambiguous data)

Test Template

[Assumption]: [What needs to be true]
Riskiness: [High | Medium | Low]
Test method: [Specific test type]
Success criteria: [What would prove it true]
Failure criteria: [What would prove it false]
Timeline: [How long to run]
Result: [Pending | Validated | Invalidated]
Learning: [What we discovered]

Building a New Tree

Step 1: Define the Outcome

Work with stakeholders to clarify:

• What metric are we moving?
• From what to what?
• By when?
• Why does this matter to the business?

Step 2: Map the Experience

Create an experience map for the customer journey:

1. Trigger/entry point
2. Core usage phases (3-5 phases)
3. Exit/completion point

Use interviews and observation to validate this map.

Step 3: Populate Opportunities

From customer interviews, extract opportunities and organize by experience map phases.

Start with 20-30 opportunities to show breadth of the problem space.

Step 4: Select Target Opportunities

You can't pursue all opportunities at once. Select 1-3 to focus on based on:

• Impact on outcome
• Customer pain intensity
• Feasibility to address
• Strategic alignment

Step 5: Generate Solutions

For each target opportunity, generate at least 3 diverse solutions.

Step 6: Identify Assumptions

For each solution you're considering, list all assumptions that must be true for it to work.

Step 7: Design Tests

For the riskiest assumptions, design small tests you can run this week.

Step 8: Run Tests and Learn

Execute tests, gather data, update the tree with learnings.

Maintaining the Tree

The OST is a living document. Update it continuously.

Weekly Updates

After customer interviews:

• Add new opportunities discovered
• Add evidence to existing opportunities
• Increase confidence in validated opportunities
• Adjust experience map if needed

After assumption tests:

• Mark tests as validated or invalidated
• Update solution status
• Archive invalidated solutions
• Add new solutions based on learnings

During team sync:

• Review what's in flight
• Decide which opportunities to pursue next
• Identify which assumptions to test next
• Celebrate learnings (not just successes)

Visual Maintenance

Keep the tree readable:

• Archive opportunities that lose relevance
• Collapse solved opportunities
• Highlight current focus areas
• Use color coding for confidence levels
• Date stamp major changes

Quality Standards

A Good OST Has:

• [ ] One clear, measurable outcome at the root
• [ ] Opportunities organized by experience map
• [ ] Opportunities written as needs (not solutions!)
• [ ] Customer quotes as evidence for opportunities
• [ ] Multiple solutions per active opportunity
• [ ] Explicit assumptions listed for each solution
• [ ] Active tests for riskiest assumptions
• [ ] Regular updates (at least weekly)
• [ ] Visual clarity (not a tangled mess)
• [ ] Shared ownership across PM, design, engineering

A Bad OST Has:

• Multiple outcomes competing for attention
• Opportunities that are really solutions
• No connection to customer evidence
• One solution per opportunity (no comparison)
• No assumptions identified
• No active tests
• Hasn't been updated in weeks
• Too complex to understand at a glance
• Only the PM knows what's on it

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Opportunities written as solutions

The #1 failure: 98% of people make this mistake.

Fix: Use the opportunity-framing skill to validate every opportunity statement.

Mistake 2: Staying too shallow

Opportunities remain broad and vague.

Fix: Decompose vertically. Go at least 3 levels deep in your highest-priority opportunity.

Mistake 3: One solution per opportunity

Eliminates ability to compare.

Fix: Force yourself to generate at least 3 solutions before picking one.

Mistake 4: No active tests

Tree becomes a planning document, not a discovery tool.

Fix: Always have 5-10 active tests running. If not, you're not doing continuous discovery.

Mistake 5: Treating it as a phase

Build the tree once, then "start building."

Fix: Discovery and delivery happen in parallel. Update the tree weekly forever.

Mistake 6: Not grounded in interviews

Opportunities based on assumptions, not customer evidence.

Fix: Conduct weekly customer interviews. Every opportunity should cite an interview.

Mistake 7: Too complex to understand

Tree has 200 branches and no one can parse it.

Fix: Focus on current area of exploration. Archive or collapse the rest.

Tree Evolution Over Time

Week 1-2: Initial Tree

• Define outcome
• Create experience map
• Populate 20-30 opportunities from initial interviews
• Select 1-2 target opportunities
• Generate 3+ solutions per opportunity
• Identify assumptions

Week 3-8: Early Discovery

• Run assumption tests weekly
• Add opportunities from weekly interviews
• Increase confidence in validated opportunities
• Archive or deprioritize opportunities with low signal
• Update solutions based on test learnings
• Start building highest-confidence solutions

Month 3-6: Continuous Discovery

• Tree becomes living document
• Opportunities constantly refined
• New opportunities added from interviews
• Solutions regularly tested and shipped
• Team references tree in all product decisions
• Metrics tracked against outcome

Month 6+: Mature Practice

• Tree structure is second nature
• Team can't imagine working without it
• Discovery and delivery fully parallel
• Outcome tracking shows progress
• New outcomes branched as old ones achieved

Output Formats

Format 1: Mermaid Diagram

graph TD
    A[Outcome: Increase trial conversion 12% to 18%]
    A --> B[I can't see value in first session]
    A --> C[I get stuck during setup]
    B --> D[Solution: Interactive demo]
    B --> E[Solution: Quick-win checklist]
    B --> F[Solution: Template library]
    D --> G[Test: Fake door test]

Format 2: Nested Markdown

# Outcome: Increase trial conversion from 12% to 18%

## Opportunity: I can't see value in first session
Evidence: "I signed up but didn't know what to do first. I closed the tab." - Interview #12

### Solution: Interactive demo
Assumptions:
- Users learn better by doing than watching
- Demo can be completed in <5 minutes
- Demo shows most valuable features

#### Test: Prototype with 10 users
Status: Running
Success criteria: 8/10 complete demo and continue to product

### Solution: Quick-win checklist
[Continue...]

Format 3: Table View

| Phase | Opportunity | Confidence | Solutions | Tests Active | |-------|-------------|------------|-----------|--------------| | Setup | I don't know where to start | High (12 interviews) | 3 | 2 | | Planning | I can't see all my tasks | Medium (5 interviews) | 4 | 1 |

Tool Recommendations

Visual Tools

• Miro/Mural: Collaborative, great for workshops
• FigJam: If your team uses Figma
• Lucidchart: Structured diagrams
• Paper/Whiteboard: Best for team collaboration

Documentation Tools

• Notion: Good for nested structure and evidence linking
• Confluence: If you're enterprise
• Markdown files: Simple, version-controlled

Most important: Pick what your team will actually use and update.

Team Collaboration

The Trio

OST work is done by the product trio:

• PM: Drives outcome, prioritizes opportunities
• Designer: Explores solutions, designs tests
• Engineer: Assesses feasibility, builds tests

All three should contribute to the tree.

Weekly OST Review

• 30-minute standing meeting
• Review learnings from past week
• Update tree together
• Decide what to test next
• Assign test ownership

Stakeholder Communication

Use the tree to communicate:

• "Here's where we're exploring and why"
• "Here's what we've learned"
• "Here's what we're testing next"
• "Here's how this connects to our outcome"

Much better than feature lists.

Success Metrics

You know your OST practice is working when:

• Team references the tree in daily decisions
• New learnings update the tree weekly
• Multiple tests running every week
• Discovery and delivery happen in parallel
• Stakeholders understand your exploration
• You can trace shipped features back to opportunities
• You're hitting your outcome metrics
• Team can articulate customer needs clearly
• Solutions are grounded in customer evidence
• You're regularly invalidating ideas (not just validating)

Getting Unstuck

"We have no opportunities"

Go interview 5 customers. Opportunities will emerge.

"All our opportunities are solutions"

Use the opportunity-framing skill on each statement. Ask "What problem does that solve?"

"We can't decide which opportunity to pursue"

Pick the one with strongest customer evidence AND highest impact on outcome.

"We're not finding new opportunities"

Interview different customer segments. Or different journey phases. Or ask different questions.

"Our tree is too messy"

Archive opportunities you're not pursuing. Focus on current exploration area.

"Leadership wants a roadmap, not a tree"

Show how the tree connects to outcomes they care about. Translate opportunities to business impact.

"We don't have time for continuous discovery"

You don't have time NOT to. Discovery prevents building the wrong thing (massive time waste).