Synthesize

Map opportunities

Link one outcome to the opportunities that could move it, and the ideas for each.

How to do it

1. Name the outcome you want to change, one you can measure.
2. List opportunities from the customer’s side: needs, pains, desires.
3. Back each opportunity with evidence.
4. Add a few ideas under each, then compare across them.

Tip. Comparing several ideas per opportunity stops the first idea winning by default. Add a brief to anchor the outcome.

What you need

Start from:

• Insight, Journey map, Jobs to be done, Empathy map or Test report

It is better with: HMW, Concept, Persona, Brief, Survey results or Analytics.

What you get: Opportunity tree

An opportunity tree template has these sections:

• Outcome
• Opportunities

Where it fits

• Define (Double Diamond): Agree the one problem worth solving, and for whom.

Usually comes after

• Synthesize insights
• Map a journey
• Write jobs to be done
• Map empathy
• Run usability tests

What to do next

• Write how-might-we statements
• Ideate concepts
• Write a readout
• Audit the evidence
• Check what new evidence changes

Templates that use it

• Exploratory study: We don’t know the problem well yet: why do people do what they do?
• Double Diamond: A whole project, from understanding a problem to a tested answer.
• Continuous discovery: A product team learning every week towards one outcome.
• Jobs to be done: Why do people start using, switch to or leave a product like yours?