One approach while scoping the JTBD domain is to interview experts in a given domain initially. This often accelerates your learning about how to get a job done. So even if you frame the main job as prepare a meal at home, you can still learn a great deal from master chefs initially. However, unless chefs are your job performers, you shouldn’t complete the JTBD research with experts. Instead, target a general group of job performers to get their insights and priorities.
Defining the main job and job performer really go hand in hand. You’ll likely define both at the same time, going back and forth as you do. Interview a few potential job performers to see if you’re on the right track. A few informal conversations can do wonders for narrowing in on the distinctions and labels that will make the most sense.
Form a Hypothesis About the Process and Circumstances
In a final step, start exploring the process and circumstances. You may be able to intuit some of the stages in executing the job based on existing knowledge. Try making assumptions about the sequence of stages the performer may go through. This will help guide your discussion with interviewees. But be prepared to adjust your hypothesis with new information that you’ll encounter through field research.
Similarly, you may know some of the circumstances in advance. Have a conversation with your team about these to understand what you might need to probe during interviews. Make assumptions initially, but be ready to update them later after you complete your research.
Primary circumstantial factors may also influence the scope of your main job. For example, let’s say you are focused on how people get breakfast. The job get breakfast might be too broad. If getting breakfast on a commute to work is your real focus, you can frame it as get breakfast on the go. Again, start broadly and qualify the main job (e.g., with on the go) as needed. Decide as a team what the best expression of the main job is.
Use the JTBD canvas from the previous chapter to discuss the main job, performer, circumstances, and process. Display the canvas on a large screen for everyone to see or print a poster-sized version of it to hang on the wall. This not only gets everyone thinking about a job to be done and its parts, but also helps explain the framework and labels you’ll be using. Hypothesize together to start speaking the language of JTBD.
Recap
JTBD gives companies a consistent way to understand the goals and needs that customers have and then bring that insight back into the organization. It focuses on what motivates them to act: they are striving to get a job done. Think of JTBD as a type of language for teams to consistently discover and describe the goals and needs of people.
At the core of the JTBD model are five separate elements, addressing the who, what, how, why, and when/where questions of your field of inquiry:
• Job Performer (who): The person who will be executing the job
• Jobs (what): Includes a main job, related jobs, and emotional jobs and social jobs
• Process (how): A chronological representation of the stages in getting a job done
• Needs (why): The desired outcomes an individual has from performing a job
• Circumstances (when/where): The conditions that frame how the job gets executed
Goals are hierarchical. Through a process of laddering, you can roll up objectives to different levels. The goal at one level may be a stage for the next. In JTBD, there are four levels to consider:
• Aspirations: An ideal change of state, something the individual desires to become
• Big Job: A broader objective, typically at the level of a main job
• Little Job: A smaller job that corresponds roughly to stages in a big job
• Micro-Job: Activities that resemble tasks, but are formulated in terms of JTBD
Getting the right level of abstraction is critical. Ask “why?” to move up in the JTBD hierarchy and ask “how?” to move down.
Start your JTBD research and analysis defining the main job and job performer. Also, create a hypothesis of the job process and circumstances to be validated with research. Talk to a few people upfront for some initial insight into your overall scoping effort.
LEARN MORE
Bob Moesta, “Bob Moesta on Jobs-to-be-Done,” interview by Des Traynor, Inside Intercom. (podcast), May 12, 2016, https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/podcast-bob-moesta-on-jobs-to-be-done/
Moesta is a pioneer in JTBD and directly influenced by Clayton Christensen. In this interview with Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom and thought leader in JTBD, he covers a range of topics. Overall, it’s a good resource to understand some of the fundamentals of JTBD thinking in general.
Anthony W. Ulwick, “Turn Customer Input into Innovation,” Harvard Business Review (January 2002).
This article was my introduction to JTBD and directly influenced my model outlined in this chapter. Ulwick essentially gives away his secrete sauce for identifying real business opportunities through needs analysis. It starts with not only a deep and thorough understanding of customer jobs, but also a consistent way of representing and working with them.
Anthony W. Ulwick and Lance A. Bettencourt, “Giving Customers a Fair Hearing,” MIT Sloan Management Review (Spring 2008).
This article details a consistent way of expressing goals and needs, largely mirrored here. The language they provide is key for working with jobs and being able to scale them across an organization.
CHAPTER 3 Discovering Value
IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT THESE PLAYS:
• Two interviewing approaches: Jobs interviews and Switch interviews
• Analyzing insights with the Four Forces techniques
• How to map a job
I’m lucky. I regularly speak with customers. It’s a privilege to observe people in their natural settings and to be able to see the world from their perspective. I thrive on it.
But few people in an organization get that chance. Think about it: How many people in your company have never spoken with a customer? As a result, a lot of misguided assumptions are made about what people will actually find valuable. Teams don’t agree on how customer insight informs their efforts and ultimately informs growth.
It’s up to you to bring market insight back to your organization. Long research reports don’t work: people don’t read them. If not made actionable, study findings get forgotten and have no impact.
JTBD changes things. It focuses on a clear unit of analysis: the job. This, in turn, serves as an axis for decision-making across the organization. More importantly, JTBD gives a consistent language to align around. You not only can agree that understanding customer needs are important, but also how to express and act on those needs consistently.
This isn’t to say that organizations should stop other types of investigation