There are many stages of the main job, visit with your family, including planning, scheduling, arranging, traveling, arriving, visiting, and departing, for instance. Each of these smaller jobs can be broken down further. Arranging transportation has the steps of deciding, reserving, confirming, and initiating, for example. Typically, the main job is broad to be more inclusive, but it can also be broken down into subsequent parts.
Note that the aspirations are technically not jobs. There are many ways to be a better family member, and there is no real “done” state. But oftentimes, your team may ladder up in defining the main job, gravitating toward overarching motivations. Having the category “aspirations” lets you capture a high-level thought, but then move down to the appropriate level of discussion.
For instance, if you find yourself defining the main job as be a better professional or enjoy the arts or even be satisfied in life, you probably need to move down a level in the hierarchy. Make a note of a relevant aspiration—it will help frame how a solution gets designed and marketed. But scoping your initial innovation effort at the aspirational level can yield an endless number of possible directions. It’s more effective to target a big job and layer aspirations secondarily on top of that.
To reiterate, JTBD provides a sequence for innovation: start with the job performer and the main job defined at an appropriate functional level. Create solutions that get that job done first. Then consider aspects like emotions and aspirations for framing how the solution gets implemented and delivered to a market.
Level Set with “Why?” and “How?”
Keeping your work at the appropriate granularity can be tricky, but part of the territory. Sometimes, you need to know the broadest possible jobs—how customers want to change their lives. Other times, you’ll be operating at a lower level with a narrower scope.
Two simple questions can help you get the right altitude: asking “why?” moves you up in the hierarchy; asking “how?” moves you down. (See Figure 2.7.)
FIGURE 2.7 Ask “why?” to go up a level and “how?” to go down.
For instance, in the case of attending a conference, you might ask, “Why would a job performer want to go to a conference?” The answer might reveal that it’s part of a broader aspiration around professional development. If you then ask again, “Why does the job performer want to develop professional skills?” you might find it’s for career advancement and ultimately to have a better life. Those higher-level aspirations are good to know, and they have potential market appeal. But keep the functional job in mind first. If it doesn’t get done, the aspiration won’t be reached either.
On the other hand, asking, “How does the job performer attend a conference?” you might find the smaller job of convincing a boss to give permission. If you then ask, “How does the job performer convince the boss?” you might find a micro-job of providing a cost-benefit estimation of the event.
You can also use this technique—asking “why?” and “how?”—when interviewing people about their jobs to be done. See more in the next chapter about interviewing. Note that JTBD is not a game of asking the “5 Whys,” a popular technique for root cause analysis that poses the questions “why?” successively five times. Instead, the level of innovation should match your goal, but be broad enough to allow for expansion.
Putting It All Together: Scope the JTBD Domain
Before getting started, you first have to define the target domain and the breadth of your field of inquiry. A main job can be big or small, and the focus depends on your situation. It’s up to you to set the level of altitude and the boundaries of the job, discussed below.
Make scoping your JTBD domain a team activity. It’s your first chance to get others in your organization on board to become more job-centric. Note that some people find formulating JTBD somewhat artificial and confining. The approach demands rigor that takes practice and some getting used to. Start small and practice as you go.
There are three key steps in scoping the JTBD domain: defining the main job, defining the job performer, and making a hypothesis about the process and circumstances. Each of these is guided by the business an organization is in currently, as well as the position it wants to occupy in the future. Your initial definitions may change as you learn more through in-depth research, but to begin it’s best to be as targeted as possible initially.
Also, remember that to define each element of your JTBD model, you should speak with potential job performers. Avoid making assumptions, and ground your definitions in reality from the start. With just a few one-on-one interviews, you’ll be able to learn a lot about the job performers and their job to be done.
Define the Main Job
What is your customer’s primary objective you want to understand? You may not be able to answer this question right away. It takes negotiation and iteration. Work directly with your whole team to define a main job that makes the most sense. Discuss and refine the scope, get the right level and specificity, and then ensure the correct formulation of your main job statement.
The main job lies at the center of understanding a market. It becomes a centripetal force for making decisions and aligning to customer needs and desires. Related jobs adjacent to the main job point to further opportunities to serve customers. Drilling down into the steps of getting a job done provides insight into how to develop better products and solutions. Reaching upward to broader jobs and aspirations allows organizations to expand their businesses in general.
Getting the right level of abstraction is key. Don’t define the main job too narrowly. A small job will limit your field of vision, but also will constrain your efforts. When in doubt, go broader and define a main job that is larger than smaller. Ask “why?” and “how?” to move the level of granularity of the main job up or down.
Consider how much time and effort you want to put into perfecting any one job relative to your size. JTBD thought leader Mike Boysen drives this point home when he picks on parking apps.2 Parking a vehicle is such a small part of a much bigger job of getting to a destination on time, as shown in the job map in Figure 2.8.
Creating a parking app may be exactly the right place to start for a small firm or team. Taking on too much at once can be a recipe for failure. But then what? Focusing on getting just one small job done won’t likely lead to long-term sustainability of a company. Instead, your strategy can expand by getting more steps done for customers. Defining the main job one level broader than your current capabilities provides an exit strategy and a path toward growth.
FIGURE 2.8 Illustrated in this job map, Mike Boysen shows that park the vehicle is a small step in a larger job get to a destination on time.