01 / UNDERSTAND
What is opportunity mapping?
Opportunity mapping organises research evidence around needs or difficulties that could be worth addressing. It helps a team decide where to focus before committing to a particular solution. This guide uses the term for a practical evidence to opportunity map. It is not a prescribed universal notation; the Opportunity Solution Tree is a distinct, more specific approach developed by Teresa Torres.
Why use Opportunity Mapping?
A research synthesis can contain many worthwhile observations without making the next decision clear. Mapping makes the connection from an account to an interpretation and a possible direction inspectable. An opportunity leaves room for alternatives. A proposed feature can sit beside it as an idea, but should not silently become the definition of the need.
When to use it
USE IT WHEN
You have research findings and need to choose a direction for further exploration.
A list of proposed features is obscuring the needs behind them.
Several teams need to understand why one area deserves attention.
When to choose another method
Use User Interviews when there is little evidence about the situation you want to change.
Use Affinity Mapping to organise the source material before framing opportunities.
Use Impact / Effort Matrix when you are ready to compare possible interventions rather than select a need.
What you’ll need
Bring the decision to be informed, a clear outcome and research records with source identifiers. Include exceptions, constraints and unresolved questions alongside stronger patterns. Agree whose experience is in scope and which perspectives are absent. The outcome is a direction for the work, not an excuse to recast an organisational target as something customers want.
What an opportunity map connects
Keep the elements that help answer your question and support a decision.
The change the work is intended to support.
Specific accounts or observations with source identifiers.
The interpretation of what matters in that context.
An area to address without prescribing one solution.
Different possible interventions, kept provisional.
Why to explore an area and what remains uncertain.
02 / PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
How to map design opportunities
Keep evidence and assumptions distinct. Revisit your work when new information changes your understanding.
01
Name the intended outcome
Specify the change and who should benefit.
Help borrowers complete a reserved book collection with less uncertainty.
02
Place the evidence
Add observations or accounts with their context and sources.
Keep an email wording mismatch separate from an account about unclear collection deadlines.
03
Interpret the need
State what the person is trying to understand or accomplish.
A borrower needs to connect the collection message to the location in the building.
04
Frame opportunities
Describe areas where improvement may matter. Check that each allows several responses.
Make the collection route understandable across messages and signs, rather than add a map to the email.
05
Compare like with like
Consider relevance, consequences, evidence and constraints at a comparable level of scope.
Compare route clarity and deadline clarity, rather than a broad access goal with one wording change.
06
Choose a learning direction
Record why one area should be explored, possible alternatives and the next question.
Explore route clarity through revised wording and an alternative location cue, then check both with first time visitors.
Example: finding a clearer collection route
Illustrative scenario, not research findings. A library team is considering improvements to reserved book collection. Its fictional evidence set includes an email and sign mismatch, an account of asking staff for directions, and a separate question about how long a book will be held.
The team maps two opportunities: making the route understandable and clarifying the collection window. They select route clarity for a focused investigation because the mismatch is directly inspectable, while recording that its wider consequences remain uncertain. Possible responses include consistent wording and a location cue. The choice is a reasoned next exploration, not proof that either response will improve completion.
03 / BELOW THE SURFACE
Below the surface: a bigger cluster is not stronger evidence
A large cluster of notes can dominate a map simply because one visit or one participant produced more detail. The apparent size of an opportunity may reflect the way evidence was collected.
01 / COVERAGE
Which independent sources support it?
Separate repeated notes from distinct accounts.
02 / SCOPE
Are the opportunities comparable?
Check whether one broad label absorbs several needs.
03 / REVISION
What could change the focus?
Keep contrary evidence and a review trigger visible.
Compare evidence coverage before comparing opportunity size. For the library example, several notes from one collection should remain one situated account, not several independent confirmations. Record distinct sources and which relevant conditions are represented.
Then inspect the scope of the opportunity itself. A broad statement can absorb many smaller concerns and appear more important by construction. Break it into decision sized questions before comparing it with a narrow need. This is an editorial check on the map's reasoning, not a formula for calculating priority. Retain contrary accounts and state what new evidence would make the team change direction.
Opportunity Mapping working canvas
Use page one to connect an outcome to evidence, needs and two opportunities. Use page two to examine coverage, compare scope and record the next decision. The two page PDF contains 12 editable fields. Open it in a PDF reader that supports forms and save a working copy.
Practical tips
Keep source identifiers on the map, including for contradictory accounts.
Test opportunity wording by proposing more than one plausible intervention.
Record why an area is deferred so the decision can be revisited.
Common mistakes
Rewriting a preferred feature as a need to justify it.
Treating sticky note counts as prevalence.
Using a tidy diagram to hide weak or missing evidence.
What you’ll get
A traceable map of opportunities and a chosen direction for learning, with alternative interventions and unresolved questions. Carry the selected opportunity into ideation or research, while preserving why other areas were deferred.