The Discovery Space

Opportunity Cards are at the heart of Vistaly’s discovery process. They represent the voice of your customer by capturing their needs, pain points, and desires in a structured format that helps your team prioritize effectively.

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Opportunity Cards

Opportunity Cards document customer problems, needs, or desires worth solving. They are created based on:

• Customer conversations and interviews
• User feedback collection
• Analysis of product usage data

Each card serves as a building block in your discovery process, helping you move from vague customer problems to specific, actionable opportunities.

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Opportunity Hierarchy

Opportunity Cards can originate from two sources:

• Measurement cards – typically a time-bound goal like an Outcome or Key Result
• Parent Opportunities – larger opportunities that can be broken down into more specific sub-opportunities

This hierarchical structure allows for transforming complex problems into manageable component, showing a clear relationship between business goals and customer needs. Additionally, the hierarchy provides a structure that makes prioritization more impactful. Instead of priortizing a flat list of features, you move closer to the problems worth solving and prioritize those first.

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Opportunity Space Example

Imagine you’re working on a mobile app that delivers content to users. Your app includes a handful of ways for users to find the content they what watch, read, or listen to.

You determine and set your primary outcome to be improving the number of searches that return a successful result.

Then after some customer discovery, you:

• Identified two top-level opportunities
• Broken down one opportunity into multiple sub-opportunities

This breakdown transforms complex problems into manageable opportunity areas that are easier to evaluate and prioritize.

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Sizing Opportunities

Vistaly offers two primary methods to size and prioritize opportunities:

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Insight Count Method

When adding insights from customer interviews or feedback, an insight count will display on the face of each card. The insight count can be used as a proxy to frequency, reach, and impact potential.

Pro Tip 💡**:** Insight count will only display when is enabled in card settings

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Custom Fields Method

For more robust analysis, custom fields allow you to evaluate opportunities across multiple dimensions.

Default custom fields for Opportunity Cards include:

Sizing Criterion	Description
Frequency	How often do customers experience this pain/need?
Reach	How many customers experience this pain/need?
Severity	How painful will it be to customers if left unaddressed?
Differentiation	Is it table stakes or a differentiator?

Note 🗒️: These criteria help teams quantify and prioritize opportunities based on customer impact. Using a consistent evaluation framework allows for more objective comparison between different opportunities.

Pro Tip 💡: Find the right balance with custom fields. Too many can slow down your process, while too few might not provide enough context for decision-making.

Pro Tip 💡: Custom fields will only display when they are enabled in card settings. Some custom fields will only display with data.

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Communicating Commitment

Once opportunities have been prioritized, use statuses to communicate when and if the team will address them. Opportunities support the following status:

Stage	Commitment	Description
Identified	No/Unknown commitment	Aware that the Opportunity exists but have made no commitment to solving it. This is how all Opportunities start.
Not now	No commitment	Recognized as an opportunity but deliberately chosen not to address it at this time, possibly due to resource constraints or competing priorities.
Later	Committed (Moderate Confidence)	Committed (for now) to solving the Opportunity. Confidence is relatively high that it’s an opportunity worth addressing, but this is subject to change.
Next	Committed	Committed and will begin work soon to start addressing the opportunity. It may be the case that the opportunity is currently being researched or solutions being identified.
Now	Committed	Committed and work is actively underway to address it. It’s best if there is an identified solution associated with an opportunity in Now - if not, solutioning should be underway.

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Opportunity Space Best Practices

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Avoid solutions disguised as outcomes (Binary Outcomes)

A common pitfall is creating “binary outcomes” that are actually solutions in disguise. For example, “Launch the AI Chatbot” is a solution, not an outcome.

This matters because starting with solutions bypasses discovery and prevents finding the best ways to solve customer problems.

Pro Tip 💡: When you catch yourself proposing a solution as an outcome, ask “Why do we want this?” to uncover the underlying value you want to provide.

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Embrace Imperfect Measurement

When you’re working in a low data environment you may not have the data you need to even set a measurable outcome.

You don’t need perfect metrics to get started:

• Begin with a directional outcome like “improve search discovery”
• Start customer conversations and analyze available data (but timebox it)
• Refine your measurement approach as you learn more

This approach works particularly well for new products with limited usage data, legacy systems without proper instrumentation, and novel customer workflows.

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Know When to Skip Discovery

Not every opportunity requires extensive discovery. Consider skipping or limiting discovery when:

• The solution is mandated (regulatory requirements)
• The problem space is well-understood with extensive prior research
• Making minor improvements to existing features with few assumptions

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Top-level Opportunities

Top-level Opportunities sit directly under an outcome in your opportunity space. They frame your discovery work and can be broken down into more specific sub-opportunities.

Teams often apply segmentation techniques to these top-level opportunities, creating a structured layer that makes it easier to organize and prioritize customer problems.

Customer Journey Step

This approach segments opportunities according to the steps in your customer’s journey when using your product or service.

How to implement:

• Map out the key steps in your customer journey from beginning to end
• Create a top-level opportunity for each significant step
• Validate your journey map with actual customer input

Job (Jobs To Be Done)

The Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework focuses on understanding what “job” customers are trying to accomplish when they use your product.

How to implement:

• Frame top-level opportunities around the core jobs your customers need to get done
• Focus on the progress the customer is trying to make in a particular circumstance

Actor / Role

This approach organizes opportunities based on the different roles or personas that interact with your product.

How to implement:

• Identify all key stakeholders who engage with your product
• Create top-level opportunities for each distinct role
• Consider both primary users and secondary stakeholders

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Solution Cards

Solutions are actions taken to address an Opportunity. This can be launching a new feature, improving an existing feature, improving documentation, and so on.

Popular Terms:

• Solution (Default in Vistaly)
• Bet
• Feature

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Communicating Commitment

Once solutions have been ideated, use statuses to communicate when and if the team will implment them. Solutions support the following status:

Stage	Commitment	Description
Idea	No/Unknown commitment	Initial concept for addressing an Opportunity. No commitment to implementation has been made.
Not now	No commitment	Solution evaluated but intentionally deprioritized due to resource constraints, technical limitations, or strategic considerations.
Later	Committed (Moderate Confidence)	Planned for a future timeframe beyond the current planning horizon. Recognized as valuable but with lower immediate priority than Now/Next items.
Next	Committed	Solution approved with implementation details being finalized. Awaiting resource allocation or developer availability.
Now	Committed	Solution actively under development. Implementation work is in progress.

Note: Using “Later” for Solutions is generally discouraged. The “Later” status is more appropriate for Opportunities (problems) where you’ve committed to solving them but haven’t yet fully defined the problem space or solution approach.

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Assumption Cards

An assumption is a belief accepted as true without definitive proof. Every proposed idea inherently contains multiple assumptions that should be identified and validated. Below are common categories of assumptions that teams should consider:

Assumption Type	Description
Desirability	Does this solution solve a meaningful problem for users, and will they want it?
Usability	Will users intuitively understand and successfully use this solution?
Feasibility	Can this solution be delivered with the current team, resources, and capabilities?
Viability	Does this solution align with strategic goals and generate measurable business value?

Additional Considerations:

Assumption Type	Description
Ethical Considerations	Does this solution align with ethical standards and avoid potential harm to users, society, or the environment?
Scalability	Can this solution grow to meet increasing demand without degrading quality or performance?
Legal	Are there legal considerations that might impact implementation or adoption?

Note 🗒️: While the first four assumption types are foundational to most product development efforts, the additional types should be evaluated when relevant to the specific solution context.

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Experiment (Assumption Test) Cards

Experiments provide evidence to de-risk high-risk assumptions. As a result, they save time, money, and energy by preventing investment in a solution that will give little to no return on investment.

Tip: Consider running experiments on assumptions with weak evidence AND would run a high risk of project failure if not correctly understood.

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Example Tests

The goal of assumption tests are to provide a lightweight way to derisk risky assumptions. Here are some common types of tests:

Test Type	Description
One Question Survey	A targeted, single-question instrument designed to validate a specific assumption with users. Provides quick, focused feedback on a narrow hypothesis.
Visual Prototype	Low or medium-fidelity visual representation of a solution to test user reactions and validate assumptions about usability, desirability, or comprehension.
Research Effort	Structured investigation involving interviews, contextual inquiry, or usability testing to understand user behaviors, needs, and pain points related to an assumption.
Data Analysis Effort	Examination of existing user data, metrics, or analytics to validate assumptions based on actual behavior patterns rather than stated preferences.
Painted Door Test	A technique that presents users with an interface element (button, link, etc.) for a non-existent feature to gauge interest before building the actual feature.

Note: These test types can be combined or customized based on the specific assumption being tested and the required level of confidence.

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Communicating Status

Once solution assumptions have been identified, use experiment (assumption test) statuses to communicate how tests are progressing. Experiments support the following statuses:

Stage	Commitment	Description
Developing	In preparation	Experiment design is being created or refined before execution. Methods and metrics are being established.
Pending	Ready for execution	Experiment is fully designed and waiting to be run. All prerequisites are in place.
Running	In progress	Experiment is currently active and collecting data. Results are not yet available.
Failed	Completed (invalidated)	Experiment has concluded and results indicate the assumption was incorrect or not supported by evidence.
Passed	Completed (validated)	Experiment has concluded and results support the original assumption, providing validation.

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Common Questions

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Q: How many levels of opportunities should there be?

While there is no hard and fast rule on how many levels of opportunities should be in an opportunity space, we’ve found that between 2-4 is common.

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Q: How many opportunities should we have?

Once again, there is no hard and fast rule. At each level you should have more than one. If you have too many straight lines of opportunities, they are typically one opportunity and can be consolidated. Going broad with the opportunity space can help you see a fuller picture

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Q: Do opportunities change over time?

Yes. The opportunity space is dyanmic, customer needs are constantly changing. This is why it’s helpful to connect customer quotes and other insights to opporutnities. When it’s time to revisit them, those insight will bring you back to the original context. Use them to determine relevancy. Many times you may also find when looking at quotes that an opportunity is really two or more opportunities.

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Q: Should we test all of our assumptions?

No. Focus on testing assumptions that are both high-risk (would cause project failure if incorrect) and have weak existing evidence. Testing every assumption would be inefficient and delay progress. Prioritize experiments for assumptions where the cost of being wrong outweighs the cost of running the test.

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Additional Resources

• Vistaly’s discovery space is inspired by Teresa Torres’ Continuous Discovery Habits. While not a prerequisite for Vistaly, if you are new to product discovery, this is a fantastic resource for leveling up.