A theory, on the other hand, is supported by evidence: it’s a set of principles or tenets formed as an attempt to explain things that have already been substantiated by data. With decades of scrutiny in both academic and practitioner settings, these core tenets of Jobs Theory have emerged as the building blocks of predictable growth.
The Hypothesis
If a product team could know what metrics its customers were going to use to judge its new offering well in advance of product development, it could design the product to address those metrics and predictably deliver a winning solution.
- Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) is a strategy and innovation process that was first used outside of IBM in 1991 to help Cordis Corporation introduce a new line of angioplasty balloons
- Led to a dramatic increase in market share and was the first of many successes
A Job-to-Be-Done is Solution Agnostic
Innovation isn’t about “a faster horse,” it’s about getting a job done better
- Customers know what they want to get done, independent of the solution they are using or what alternative solutions are possible
- This enables a company to view its competition through a new lens, viewing it as any product or home-grown solution that is being used to get the job done
Tenet 6: A deep understanding of the customer’s job makes marketing more effective and innovation far more predictable
If a team can agree on what a need is, what the customer’s needs are, and which are unmet, they are able to (1) better position and sell more of the company’s existing products, (2) improve existing products and services, (3) create new products & services.
Tenet 8: People seek products and services that enable them to get the entire job done on a single platform
Your product strategy should never change
- The goal should always be to help your customers get the job done
- A Job Map can be used as a blueprint that informs a company what product improvements to make
Tenet 2: Jobs are functional with emotional and social components
Customers want to feel a certain way and be perceived in a certain light by their peers and/or friends and others.
- Work with customers to define the market, and then work with them to define emotions and social jobs associated with functional jobs.
Innovation becomes predictable when “needs” are defined as the metrics customers use to measure success when getting the job done
Define Customer Needs As Constants
- With a stable set of needs in hand, a company is able to: Quantify which needs are underserved and overserved
- Discover segments of customers with different unmet needs
- Use the metrics as a baseline against which they can test product ideas and concepts before they are developed
A Job-to-be-Done is Stable Over Time
A functional job is stable over time. What changes over time are the products and services that companies offer to help get the job done better.
- This makes a functional job an attractive focal point around which to create customer value and provide a stable target for market insights, strategy formulation, innovation, R&D and M&A investment, and growth.
Success comes from making the “job” the unit of analysis
The job is the thing that is studied, dissected, and understood at a granular level
- Desired outcome statements describe customer metrics for getting the job done faster, more predictably, and with high throughput/output
- With these, companies can: (1) identify where and why customers are struggling
- brainstorm ideas for new offerings
- Determine in advance of development which ideas will help customers get done best
Jobs-to-be-Done Theory
A theory is a set of tenets that attempts to explain things that have already been substantiated by data
- It is comprised of principles or tenets that explain how to make marketing more effective and innovation more predictable by focusing on the customer’s job
- People buy products and services to get a “job” done
- Success comes from making the “job”, rather than the product or the customer, the unit of analysis
- Understanding the customer’s job allows marketing to be more effective & innovation to be far more predictable
People Buy Products and Services to Get a Job Done
A “job” is not a description of what the customer is doing, the solution they are using, or the steps they are taking to get a job done.
- Instead, the “job” statement embodies what the “customer” is ultimately trying to accomplish.
People want products and services that will help them get a job done better and/or more cheaply
Knowing what types of customers exist in your market and in what proportions forms the foundation for a new way to think about growth strategy
- The Jobs-to-be-Done Growth Strategy Matrix.
