Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice Read online

  As another example, consider airline travelers who are legally prohibited from taking bottles of drinking water through security. This restriction enables concessions at the gates to employ a discrete strategy, as they are now justified in charging significantly more for water (and many other food and beverage items) to travelers. Similarly, movie theaters, sporting arenas, and theme parks restrict what visitors can bring in and consequently are able to employ a similar strategy.

  Restrictions resulting from high demand can also justify higher prices. Airlines, for example, typically charge more for seats when supply is tight. It should be noted that although employing a discrete strategy may hold the potential for high profits, it can also be viewed as exploitative by customers and result in public backlash and/or reputational damage as it has with pharmaceutical giant Mylan over the high cost of EpiPens.

  Employing a Sustaining Strategy

  A sustaining strategy is good for products or services that get the job done just slightly better and/or more cheaply. We define “slightly” as less than 5% better or cheaper. New market entrants should avoid a sustaining strategy, as they will not be offering anything enticing enough to lure customers away en masse from a favorite brand or product. The risk is too high to make a switch. Customers generally will only switch to a new product if it gets the job done upwards of 20% better—which is characteristic of a differentiated or dominant strategy. Here again, using desired outcome statements as the basis for evaluating whether or not a product will get the job done better (and how much better) is a critical step in bringing data-driven decision making to the innovation process.

  Sustaining innovation is a good strategy for an incumbent to follow to maintain market position, market share, and margins. In established markets, getting the job done slightly better and slightly more cheaply lets a company take share from a competitor.

  The Jobs-to-be-Done Growth Strategy Matrix reveals which growth strategies are available for a company to pursue in a given situation.

  As I shall show in the next chapter, the qualitative and quantitative research methods included in the Outcome-Driven Innovation process secure the information that is needed to determine what situation a company is in.

  Once a company knows what under- or overserved segments exist and what customer needs are under- and overserved, it is in a position to use the matrix to select the best strategy for pursuit. Without this ability, innovation remains a game of chance.

  PROCESS

  4.

  OUTCOME DRIVEN-INNOVATION

  >> CONTENTS

  A company’s success at innovation is dependent on the innovation process it choses to employ. A process fraught with defects and deficiencies will produce unpredictable results.

  When it comes to creating an effective innovation process, cobbling together a hodgepodge of incompatible practices and relying on qualitative insights alone just doesn’t work. What companies need is a comprehensive, customer-centric, data-driven innovation process that is built around Jobs Theory. That is why the Strategyn team and I have spent the last 25 years creating and refining our Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) process. ODI rids the innovation process of its deficiencies.

  While Jobs-to-be-Done is the theory, Outcome-Driven Innovation is the process that puts it into practice.

  ODI is a strategy and innovation process that enables companies to conceptualize and invent new solutions that help customers get a job done better and/or more cheaply. It has an 86 percent success rate because it begins with a deep understanding of the Job-to-be-Done and employs unique quantitative research methods that enable companies to analyze markets in ways that have never before been possible.

  More specifically, ODI links a company’s value creation activities to customer-defined performance metrics related to the job they are trying to get done—a truly revolutionary concept in the field.

  By supplying a definition of customer needs that the entire organization can embrace, ODI offers a rigorous, controlled approach to needs gathering, needs-based segmentation, competitive analysis, opportunity identification, idea generation and validation, market sizing, and the formulation of market and product strategy. The result is a predictable approach to innovation.

  As shown in the figure, the Outcome-Driven Innovation process is comprised of 10 key steps.

  The ODI process begins with a definition of the customer and ends with a market and product strategy that creates value for that customer.

  This chapter outlines the process we use and the steps that we take to turn Jobs Theory into practice.

  I. DEFINE THE CUSTOMER

  Before a company can understand the customer’s needs, company managers must agree on exactly who the customer is.

  Gaining such agreement is not easy. When we ask company managers who their customer is, we typically hear, “We have many customers.” Often they add that customers include both “internal stakeholders and external customers.” To further complicate matters, external customers are typically said to include influencers, decision makers, buying groups, end users, operators, installers, and others. In a medical device company, for example, external customers include the surgeon, patient, insurer, nurse, operating-room manager, and hospital buying group, among others. It’s true that a company has many customers, but is there a way to simplify matters?

  Let’s start with the why question. Why do we need to know who the customer is? Obviously, we want to know whom it is we’re trying to serve, but there is a more tactical reason. From a strategy and innovation perspective, we must identify the customer so we can gain the insights we need to create products and services that will get the job done better and/or more cheaply.

  So the question becomes, “Who holds these insights?” Through our work, we have discovered that there are three key customers types (or job executors) that must be considered: the end user (or functional job executor), the product life cycle support team, and the purchase decision maker.

  THE END USER

  The end user is the person who uses the product or service to get the core functional job done. In many situations, the end user and the purchase decision maker are different people. The end user can provide your company with the functional metrics (desired outcomes) it needs to figure out how to create a product that will get the job done faster, more predictably, and more efficiently, with higher output or throughput.

  For a medical device manufacturer, the end user of a surgical tool is the surgeon. The surgeon may be seeking products or services that will “minimize the likelihood of removing healthy tissue” or “quickly determine the points of affixation for attachment.” End users are also able to provide your company with a list of their emotional jobs and their related jobs, two other key inputs identified in the Jobs-to-be-Done Needs Framework

  THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE SUPPORT TEAM

  The product lifecycle support team is comprised of the people who install, set up, store, transport, maintain, repair, clean, upgrade, and dispose of the product. In certain situations, the end user may also be part of product life cycle support team. Not all these consumption chain jobs apply in every situation, but the people responsible for the ones that do apply can provide your company with the desired outcome statements that will lead to a product that requires less support.

  A product that does not have to be installed, set up, stored, transported, and so on, is far more valuable than one that does. Simplifying or eliminating these consumption chain jobs has two key benefits: (i) it can lower the cost of product ownership, which satisfies the needs of the purchase decision maker, and (ii) it makes the product more convenient to use, which satisfies the needs of the end user. All those responsible for supporting the product throughout its lifecycle are key customers because their insights make it possible for the company to create a more positive customer experience.

  THE PURCHASE DECISION MAKER

  The purchase decision maker is responsible for seeking out and evaluating alternative offerings a
nd deciding which to buy. The purchase decision maker can provide your company with the financial desired outcomes it needs to figure out how to create a product or service that will get the job done more cheaply. The buyer of a surgical tool (who could be an operating-room manager, a hospital administrator, or someone holding another title), for example, may be seeking products that will “reduce the patient’s length of stay” or “reduce the likelihood of a recurrence.” Financial metrics such as these drive the buying decision.

  By focusing on these three customers, a company will gain the insights it needs to create a product or service that will get a job done better along multiple dimensions—and more cheaply. More importantly, if your company creates a product or service that addresses the unmet needs of all three of these customers, it will find that influencers will recommend it, distributors and retailers will carry it, those on social media will promote it, people will buy it, and your internal stakeholders will be satisfied by the financial rewards.

  II. DEFINE THE JOB-TO-BE-DONE

  Making the core functional job the unit of analysis is the cornerstone of successful innovation. The core functional job is the stable, long-term focal point around which all other needs are defined and around which value creation should be centered.

  Defining the core functional Job-to-be-Done correctly is a prerequisite to predictable success. Getting it wrong is a big problem, and getting it right is not that easy. Defining the job too narrowly will limit the discovery of growth opportunities. Defining the job too broadly will result in non-actionable insights.

  From our experience, most products only get part of a job done. The goal is to discover the entire job the customer is trying to accomplish. This is why it is incorrect to ask a customer, “What job did you hire that product to do?” as this may not reveal the entire job. Asking this question is a common mistake. It is indicative of a product-centric mindset.

  To avoid defining the job to narrowly, work directly with customers to understand not why they bought your product, but how your product fits into what they are trying to accomplish. Ask, “Why are you using that product, what job are you ultimately trying to get done”.

  For example, if a stove-top kettle maker were to ask its users “what job did you hire that product to do”, it is likely they would tell you they hired it to “boil water”. That may be correct, but boiling water is just a step in the job the customer is ultimately trying to get done—which is to ”prepare a hot beverage for consumption”. If the stove top kettle maker defines the job too narrowly, then it is at risk of a competitor coming along (like Keurig) with a solution that gets the entire job done on a single platform.

  It is not uncommon for a new competitor to overtake a market by finding the capabilities, resources, funding, technology, and know how to create an offering that gets the entire job done.

  On the other hand, defining the job too broadly can make it difficult, if not impossible, for the company to tackle the job in its entirety. To avoid this from happening, think about the company, its products and its capabilities and ask, “Can and will the company address this job from beginning to end over time?” If the company does not have or is not willing to acquire the capabilities, resources, funding, and technology and know how to tackle the broader job then the job is defined too broadly from a practical standpoint.

  Take the customer’s perspective: When defining the core functional job, think about the job from the customer’s perspective, not the company’s. For example, a company that supplies herbicides to farmers may conclude that growers are trying to “kill weeds,” while the growers might say the Job-to-be-Done is to “prevent weeds from impacting crop yields.”

  Don’t overcomplicate it: While the Jobs-to-be-Done Needs Framework is multilayered and complex, a functional job statement is not. It is important to emphasize that a well-defined functional job statement, and all the need statements we describe, are one-dimensional and mutually exclusive. Cramming everything into one complicated statement or a “job story” makes it impossible to later quantify exactly where the customer is underserved. The goal is to separately define all the causal factors that contribute variability to getting the job done. This is accomplished through 100 or more separate statements, not just one.

  Leave emotion and other needs out of it: When defining the core functional job make sure it is defined as a functional job, not as a hybrid functional/emotional/social job. A functional job does not have social and emotional dimensions. The emotional and social jobs related to the core functional job are defined in a series of separate emotional job statements.

  Also do not include desired outcomes in the functional job statement. They too must be stated separately. So if the job is to “cut a piece of wood in a straight line”, don’t say “accurately, safely and quickly cut a piece of wood in a straight line”. Accurately, safely and quickly vaguely describe outcomes associated with getting the job done. A statement like “stay awake and occupied while I make my morning commute more fun” also fails this test. Here the functional job may be more like, “stay awake during my morning commute”. A possible solution may be a good shot of espresso, but probably not a milkshake.

  Define the job, not the situation: Do not define the Job-to-be-Done as a situation that a customer finds himself or herself in. Rather define the job around what the customer decides to do in that situation. For example, commuters may find themselves “on a long, boring commute”, but “having a long and boring ride to work” is not a job—it is a situation commuters find themselves in. You cannot study the job of “overcoming boredom” because it is not a functional job.

  Rather, consider what commuters choose to do when they are on a long, boring commute. What they may do is stop at a quick service restaurant to “get breakfast while commuting to work” (the actual functional Job-to-be-Done).

  Similarly, you may find yourself bored waiting in line at a doctor’s office, but again, overcoming boredom is not the job, nor is the job to “fill my time while waiting”. Rather, what the customer chooses to do when she/he is bored is the real Job-to-be-Done. For example, when you are standing there in line waiting to see the doctor, you may choose to use your smartphone to “stay informed on topics of interest”, “check your credit score”, “pay bills”, or execute other jobs that can be accomplished through a smartphone application. They are the Jobs-to-be-Done.

  Define the job statement in the correct format: A job statement always begins with a verb and is followed by the object of the verb (a noun). The statement should also include a contextual clarifier. In the job statement “listen to music while on the go”, the contextual clarification is made by adding “while on the go” to the job statement. Commuters who stop at quick service restaurant on the way to work are trying to “get breakfast while commuting to work” where “while commuting to work” brings needed context to the statement. Keep this format in mind:

  Job statement = verb + object of the verb (noun) + contextual clarifier

  III. UNCOVER CUSTOMER DESIRED OUTCOMES

  With the core functional job defined, the next step in the ODI process is to create a “job map” for that job. A job map is a visual depiction of the core functional job, deconstructed into its discrete process or job steps, which explains in detail exactly what the customer is trying to get done. A job map does not show what the customer is doing (a solution view); rather, it describes what the customer is trying to get done (a needs view).

  A job map is focused on the underlying goals of the actions being taken. For example, you wouldn’t say an anesthesiologist is “looking at the display” (a solution that describes what action the anesthesiologist is taking). Instead, you would say the anesthesiologist is “monitoring the patient’s vital signs”, which is the underlying goal of looking at the display.

  In addition, a job map is not a customer journey or customer experience map: it does not describe the journey the customer goes through to buy, receive, set-up, use, upgrade, clean and mai
ntain a product. These activities are consumption chain jobs that are captured and treated separately. If you are focusing on the customer journey, you are not focused on the core functional job.

  A good job map will describe what the customer is trying to get done independent of all the competing solutions that customers are using. In other words, it will be accurate for all customer situations, regardless of the products they are using to get the job done. A completed job map represents the “ideal process flow” for that job: all the steps in the ideal order for efficient execution.

  We create the job map for a number of reasons:

  The completed job map lays out the long term strategy for the organization—which is to devise a solution that gets the entire job done on a single platform or with a single offering (which may include hardware, software and services).

  It is often the case that innovative ideas can come from analyzing the job map, as it points out holes and inefficiencies in existing offerings.

  From a tactical standpoint, the job map serves as a framework and a guide for capturing the customer’s desired outcomes. For this reason, it is best to create the job map before attempting to capture desired outcome statements.

  THE UNIVERSAL JOB MAP