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20 min / intermediate / 6 steps

Run Product Discovery with Opportunity Solution Trees

Use Teresa Torres' Opportunity Solution Tree framework to go from customer interviews to validated experiments, all inside Claude Code.

Product discovery shouldn't be a mystery. Teresa Torres' Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) gives you a clear structure: start with an outcome, map customer opportunities, brainstorm solutions, and design assumption tests. The problem? Building and maintaining an OST takes hours of manual synthesis. Claude Code collapses that into minutes. You'll paste raw interview notes and walk away with a structured tree and experiment designs. If you're new to OSTs, read Teresa's original framework at producttalk.org/opportunity-solution-trees.

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You need: A Claude account. Open claude.ai in a browser, or the Claude desktop app.

  1. step 01 / 06

    Set up your discovery workspace

    Create a CLAUDE.md that gives Claude your product context and discovery goals. This is where you define the outcome you're chasing, the top of your OST.

    Prompt
    I want to run product discovery using Teresa Torres' Opportunity Solution Tree framework. My product context: B2B SaaS project management tool, 2,400 active teams, 85% retention. Target outcome: increase weekly active usage from 3.2 to 4.5 days/week. I've done 12 customer interviews this cycle.

    what you should see

  2. step 02 / 06

    Create a discovery skill

    This skill teaches Claude the OST framework, covering how to extract opportunities from interviews, distinguish opportunities from solutions, and structure everything into a tree. This is the engine.

    Prompt
    Here's the rule I need you to follow strictly: when extracting from interviews, only identify OPPORTUNITIES (customer needs, pains, desires), never solutions. If something looks like a solution, reframe it as the underlying need. For example: "wants a dashboard" → "can't see team progress at a glance." Can you do that?

    what you should see

  3. step 03 / 06

    Feed it raw interview notes

    Here's where the magic happens. Paste your messy, unstructured interview notes. Claude extracts opportunities, the customer needs, pains, and desires hidden in the conversation.

    Prompt
    Extract opportunities from these interview notes: Sarah, PM at 50-person startup: "We use the tool Monday and Tuesday but by Wednesday everyone's back in Slack. Notifications are overwhelming so people mute them. I wish I could see just what changed since I last looked. Also the mobile app is useless. I can't approve anything on my phone so I wait until I'm at my desk. My team in Berlin is 6 hours ahead so by the time I approve their PRs it's already their end of day."

    what you should see

  4. step 04 / 06

    Build the full Opportunity Solution Tree

    Now ask Claude to build the complete tree, connecting your outcome to the opportunities, generating solutions for each, and identifying the riskiest assumptions. This is what takes hours manually.

    Prompt
    Now build the full OST. For each of the 6 opportunities, brainstorm 3 solutions and identify the riskiest assumption for the most promising one.

    what you should see

  5. step 05 / 06

    Generate assumption tests for your top solutions

    Pick the solutions you're most excited about and have Claude design lightweight experiments. Teresa Torres calls these "assumption tests," small, fast experiments that reduce risk before you build anything.

    Prompt
    Design assumption tests for the smart notification digest and the mobile approval flow. For each: riskiest assumption, test I can run this week, success criteria with a number, estimated effort.

    what you should see

  6. step 06 / 06

    Keep your tree alive as a living document

    An OST isn't a one-time exercise. It evolves every week as you learn. Save it to a file and update it after every interview. Claude remembers the context and builds on what's there.

    Prompt
    New interview: Maria, Designer at a 30-person agency. "I actually love the notifications but they all look the same. I can't tell if something is urgent or just a comment. Color coding would help. Also I only open the app when someone @mentions me, otherwise I forget it exists."

    what you should see

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Tell someone what you built

Just finished "Run Product Discovery with Opportunity Solution Trees" on Claude Code Guide. Took about 20 min, and it's free: https://claudecodeguide.dev/tutorials/product-discovery-ost

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