Also called:
Alternative plays: Opportunity Solution Tree Mapping
Follow-up plays: How Might We, How Might We Experiment
See also: Opportunity Solution Tree Mapping
Origin: Inspired by Teresa Torres and working with her Opportunity Solution Tree.
Prep time
10 minutes
Run time
1-2 hours
Group size
2-5
Why: Prioritize solving customer problems and seizing market opportunities over the allure of solution novelty or tech capabilities
When: Size opportunities rather than solutions whenever you are creating or adjusting your roadmap or plan
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!The strategy behind prioritizing opportunities over solutions, as explained by Teresa Torres, focuses on addressing customer problems more effectively by first understanding their root causes. By prioritizing opportunities rather than jumping to solutions, product teams can ensure they are solving the most valuable and impactful problems, rather than pursuing solutions that may only address surface-level issues. This approach allows teams to stay flexible, open to new ideas, and focused on the customer’s needs, ensuring that the end result brings greater value to both the customer and the business.
Focusing on opportunities encourages a broader exploration of possible solutions. When teams start with solutions, they often become attached to specific ideas, leading to “solution bias,” where they may overlook better options or fail to deeply understand the problem. By taking the time to explore and prioritize opportunities, teams can ensure that they are addressing the most critical and meaningful customer problems, rather than rushing to implement solutions that may not fully resolve underlying issues.
Prioritizing opportunities also aligns better with strategic thinking. By focusing on customer needs in the context of market conditions, company strengths, and customer satisfaction, product teams can make more informed decisions that align with both immediate business goals and long-term vision. This approach allows teams to be more objective and ensures that resources are directed toward solving problems that offer the greatest potential for impact. Ultimately, it ensures a deeper connection between customer desirability and business viability, leading to more sustainable success.
Instructions for running this play
- Before the exercise. Prepare a list of customer problems or opportunities identified via customer research. Note each down on separate sticky notes.
- Define assessment criteria. As a group, define criteria for evaluating opportunities, considering market factors, company factors, and customer factors. Emphasize the subjective nature of these decisions to encourage open-mindedness.
| Market factors | Company factors | Customer factors |
|---|---|---|
| Competitive Landscape | Mission, Vision | Importance |
| External Trends | Strategic Objectives | Satisfaction |
| Opportunities | Strengths | |
| Threats | Weaknesses |
- Opportunity scoring. In small groups, assess each opportunity against the defined criteria. Discuss the potential impact, market position effect, alignment with company vision, and customer importance.
- Discuss and group. Reconvene as a larger group to share assessments. Debate the merits based on the sizing exercise and group similar opportunities. Consider using tools like the Opportunity Solution Tree to visualize and structure the discussion.
- Prioritize. Rank opportunities based on the group discussion, focusing on impact and strategic alignment of these opportunities.
Tips to perfect this play
Master and adapt the play to fit your context and needs.
Tip: Compare-and-contrast
Use compare-and-contrast exercises over yes/no decisions to foster deeper analysis and nuanced discussions among participants.
Tip: Encourage open-mindedness
Encourage open-mindedness in defining assessment criteria, emphasizing that decisions are subjective and not strictly binary.
Tip: Facilitate group discussions
Facilitate group discussions to explore opportunity impacts, guiding participants to evaluate from multiple perspectives (market, company, customer).
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2025 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!