Product Discovery Techniques Part 1: Product Trio & Opportunity Solution Tree

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There are many methods used in Product Discovery, but in this article I will cover two of my favorites: Product Trio and Opportunity Solution Tree. These two techniques are powerful, but even more so when used together.

Before we get into defining these methods, let’s remind ourselves of the concept of dual-track Agile development — where we separate Product Discovery (when we decide what to build) from Product Delivery (when we build it).

What is Product Discovery good for?

During Product Discovery our focus is to make sure we’re not going to fail. We do this by developing a deep understanding of our customers, knowing their needs and the context in which those needs occur. Through this understanding, ideas emerge. Then we test these ideas iteratively, or bit by bit.

• Perform small research activities, for example, talking to the customers. Don’t forget there’s no one else who knows their problem better than they do! Therefore, you need to invite your customers to co-create solutions with you.
• Share learnings with the entire development team, other Product managers, UX designers, data analysts, and business stakeholders so that they all have a shared understanding of your customers and their problems. Also, try to involve them in the research activities. The idea is to share the knowledge across teams, and not have only one role or one team acting as a gatekeeper for the knowledge.
• Make sure everyone shares a deep and rich understanding of your customers. This way, everyone can contribute with valuable ideas (grounded in research and not personal opinions) and you can benefit from different expertise.
• Test ideas iteratively with quick experiments to make sure something is indeed a good idea.

We now know what to do during Product Discovery, but when do we do it?

• Product Discovery is a continuous, ongoing process. It exists as long as the product exists.
• Learn as quickly as possible whether ideas work or not, with minimum effort invested. Start small, test, and decide if it’s worth proceeding. If not, then move on to the next idea, and so on.

Product Trio

The term “product trio” was coined by Teresa Torres, product discovery coach, in her book Continuous Discovery Habits, but the concept behind it can be found in other references, such as Marty Cagan’s Inspired.

Simply put, Product Trio is the team who leads the Product Discovery process. As part of this team, there will be one representative each from Product, UX, and Dev. Each one will bring their own expertise to the table and together will make all decisions related to Product Discovery. Of course, you can include more than three people in the product trio, but be aware that the more people you involve, the longer it will take to reach a decision.

Product Trio’s main goal is to address critical risks. The product manager will manage the value risk and the business viability risk and answer this question: Will the customer buy this or choose to use it? The UX designer will manage the usability risk: Can the user figure out how to use it? The lead engineer/tech lead will handle the feasibility risk: Can we build it?

It’s important to note that even though each member of the trio owns different aspects in this process, together they share the responsibility of ensuring that the product creates value, performs well, and is easy to use.

Tips on how to put this technique into practice:

• Start by assembling a team of three people: a product manager, a designer, and a software engineer who work together. No handing off work from one stage to the next.
• Ensure the trio has a shared understanding of who the customer is, what their pain points, needs, and desires are.
• Have a clear outcome in mind (e.g., increase engagement, retention, revenue, customer satisfaction, NPS score, etc.).
• Get rid of ideas that aren’t feasible, usable, valuable, or viable for the business and only pass the best ideas to the next phase.
• Participate in the discovery activities together: interview customers, map the opportunity space, generate ideas, and decide how to test.
• Work collaboratively from beginning to end.
• Avoid competing interests. Even though each member of the trio might contribute more on a specific area, to make it work everyone from the team needs to be jointly responsible for building a product that is viable, desirable, usable, and feasible.

Opportunity Solution Tree

This technique was also created by Teresa Torres. She explains it in detail in her book, Continuous Discovery Habits. Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is very useful for several reasons, such as: helping the teams to see the bigger picture, make decisions easier, and to focus better.

OST is a visual representation of a goal you have in mind. The goal is the root, that then spreads its branches into opportunities, solutions and experiments — in other words, how you plan to achieve this goal.

Here are some ideas on how to use OST:

• Start with a clear desired outcome: A key result or a single metric you want to improve.
• Then start looking for opportunities to achieve this outcome. Examples of opportunities: customer needs, pain points, desires.
• Discover opportunities during research activities, or through customer interviews.
• Each opportunity needs to be analyzed from this perspective: Can it drive the desired outcome? Or, which opportunity will have the biggest impact on the outcome?
• You then generate between 3–5 solutions for each opportunity.
• For deciding which solution to prioritize, you need to answer this question: Of these solutions which one is most likely to deliver on that opportunity?
• Then think of small experiments that will help you quickly figure out if you were right about that solution or not.
• Once you validate a solution, you can move it in the execution phase.
• Carry on until the desired outcome is reached, then you can start a new tree for your next desired outcome.

Product Trio & Opportunity Solution Tree — Step by step

Now that we’ve covered the basics of these two techniques, let’s go over how to combine them. Below is a visual representation on how to apply both, step by step:

Key Takeaways

• Product Discovery is a continuous process where we make sure we’re building the right things.
• A Product Trio is the team that will lead the product discovery process. They can involve others, but the main decisions will be made by these three people.
• The main goal of a Product Trio is to accelerate the discovery process and to weed out bad ideas.
• An Opportunity Solution Tree helps identify how you can reach a clear desired outcome. It is good for generating and prioritizing ideas.

Have you tried either of these techniques? Leave a comment!

Resources and further reading:

1. Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value, Teresa Torres, 2021
2. Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Marty Cagan, 2018
3. https://www.producttalk.org/category/product-trios/
4. https://www.producttalk.org/category/opportunity-solution-tree/