The jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework defines, categorizes, captures, and organizes consumer needs. The jobs-to-be-done framework is based on the premise that consumers buy products and services to get jobs done. While products tend to come and go, the consumer need to get jobs done endures indefinitely. This theory was popularized by Tony Ulwick, who also detailed his book Jobs To Be Done: Theory to Practice.
| Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Framework | Description | Analysis | Implications | Applications | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Key Elements (KE) | The Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Framework is a theory and methodology for understanding customer needs and motivations by focusing on the “jobs” or tasks that customers are trying to accomplish. | – Identify the specific “jobs” or tasks that customers are trying to complete. – Understand the motivations and desired outcomes associated with these jobs. – Explore the obstacles and challenges customers face in achieving their desired outcomes. | – Shifts the focus from product features to customer needs and goals. – Helps in uncovering unmet customer needs and opportunities for innovation. – Emphasizes the importance of understanding customer context and motivation. | – Product development and innovation. – Marketing and messaging strategy. – Identifying market gaps and opportunities. | Key Elements Example: Identifying the job of “staying organized while traveling” and understanding the desired outcomes, motivations, and obstacles associated with it. |
| 2. Job Identification (JI) | Job Identification involves recognizing and defining the specific jobs or tasks that customers are trying to accomplish in their lives or work. It’s the foundation of the JTBD framework. | – Identify and define the various jobs or tasks that customers face in their daily lives or work. – Use customer interviews, observations, and data analysis to uncover hidden or unmet jobs. – Focus on understanding the context, goals, and motivations behind each job. | – Provides a clear picture of the tasks and goals that matter most to customers. – Identifies opportunities for designing products or services that address these jobs. | – Product development and innovation. – Market research and segmentation. – Creating customer personas. | Job Identification Example: Recognizing the job of “meal planning” and understanding the goals and challenges people face when planning meals at home. |
| 3. Motivation Analysis (MA) | Motivation Analysis involves exploring the motivations, needs, and desired outcomes associated with each job identified. It helps uncover the underlying reasons why customers seek to accomplish these jobs. | – Understand the emotional and functional motivations that drive customers to complete specific jobs. – Explore the desired outcomes or benefits customers expect to achieve. – Connect motivations and outcomes to the customer’s broader goals and aspirations. | – Reveals the deeper motivations and emotional drivers behind customer behavior. – Informs product design and messaging that resonates with customer needs. | – Designing products or services that align with customer motivations. – Crafting marketing messages that appeal to emotional and functional needs. | Motivation Analysis Example: Identifying that the motivation behind the “exercise” job is not just physical health but also the desire for confidence and well-being. |
| 4. Obstacle Assessment (OA) | Obstacle Assessment involves identifying the obstacles, challenges, and pain points that customers encounter while trying to complete a job. It helps uncover the barriers that hinder job success. | – Investigate the common obstacles and challenges customers face when trying to accomplish a job. – Understand the frustrations and pain points associated with these obstacles. – Identify any external factors or constraints that contribute to the difficulties. | – Highlights areas where current solutions or products may fall short in addressing customer needs. – Provides insights into potential product improvements or innovations. – Helps prioritize solutions that remove obstacles and enhance job completion. | – Product improvement and innovation. – Customer experience design. – Competitive analysis and differentiation. | Obstacle Assessment Example: Discovering that customers struggle with “meal planning” due to time constraints, lack of inspiration, and grocery shopping challenges. |
| 5. Solution Development (SD) | Solution Development involves creating products, services, or solutions that address the specific jobs, motivations, and obstacles identified through the JTBD framework. It aims to provide value to customers by solving their job-related needs. | – Design and develop solutions that directly address the identified jobs, motivations, and obstacles. – Ensure that the solution aligns with customer goals and preferences. – Test and iterate on the solution based on customer feedback and validation. | – Drives product and service innovation that directly addresses customer needs. – Enhances the likelihood of product adoption and customer satisfaction. | – Product development and innovation. – Service design and improvement. – Creating customer-centric solutions. | Solution Development Example: Creating a meal planning app that offers personalized recipes, shopping lists, and time-saving features to address the obstacles in the “meal planning” job. |
Understanding the jobs-to-be-done-framework
But why do products and services tend to come and go? Most failures occur because of a misalignment with consumer needs. That is, product development teams do not understand the metrics that consumers use to measure success.
To that end, the jobs-to-be-done framework was created. It allows businesses to identify consumer needs that are less likely to become invalid or obsolete over time. By developing products based on these needs, the products themselves are more likely to endure. There is also a higher likelihood that the business has developed an innovative product.
In the next section, we will look at a methodology that guides innovative, needs-based product development.
The eight-step jobs-to-be-done methodology
While there are several approaches to determining customer needs, this methodology allows businesses to identify needs at every stage of the job process.
1 – Define
A customer usually begins by defining what they need to proceed with a job. This includes identifying an objective and then formulating a plan toward achieving that objective. Weight Watchers assists dieters in losing weight by offering a suite of weight-loss plans where the hassle of counting calories has been removed.
2 – Locate
In the second step, the customer locates the items and information required for the job. Here, a business can innovate by making the location process easier. DIY removalist company U-Haul provides moving kits with its range of vehicles, with the number and type of each box specific to every customer’s move.
3 – Prepare
Preparation involves the arranging of necessary inputs within the environment required for the job. Most jobs require some degree of preparation and it can be made less difficult by automation, safeguards, or user guides to name a few.
4 – Confirm
What information does the customer need to verify before proceeding with the job? This step is especially important for jobs that require quick and accurate decisions or checks. Oracle created merchandising software that enabled staff to gauge the best time and markdown percentages for product sales.
5 – Execute
As the job is being carried out, a business should address needs resulting from problems or delays. Identifying needs in the execution stage is vital because customers consider this is the most important part of the job. During surgical procedures, Kimberly-Clark developed a heated water system to avoid fluctuations in patient body temperature.
6 – Monitor
Does the customer need to monitor something that will aid in the successful completion of the job? That is, will adjustments be necessary to improve execution? Nike manufactures shoes containing sensors that give instantaneous data about the exercise session with respect to fitness goals.
7 – Modify
If adjustments are necessary, the business must reduce the number of adjustments required as a matter of priority. When, how, and where will the adjustments take place? Microsoft’s automatic update system saves customers the hassle of finding, downloading, and then implementing updates.
8 – Conclude
What does the customer need to do to complete the job? Some jobs are concluded simply, such as the drying of hands after they have been washed. Other jobs including the printing and binding of a completed report are more complex.
Adhesive company 3M simplified the often convoluted process of removing wound dressings after surgery. By designing a dressing that adhered only to itself and not to the skin, the job of removal became quick and painless for the patient.
Drawbacks of the Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
Over-Simplification of Customer Needs
One of the challenges of the JTBD Framework is that it can oversimplify customer needs. Customers often have complex, multifaceted reasons for choosing a product, which may not be fully captured by focusing solely on the functional job.
Risk of Ignoring Emotional and Social Factors
The framework primarily concentrates on functional aspects of a job, potentially overlooking the emotional and social dimensions of consumer decisions, which can be equally important.
Difficulty in Identifying the “Right” Job
Determining the exact “job” a product or service is hired to do can be challenging and subjective. Misinterpretation of this job can lead to misguided product development strategies.
Limitation in Scope for Innovation
Focusing too much on current jobs-to-be-done may limit the scope for disruptive innovation. Companies might miss opportunities to create entirely new markets or redefine existing ones.
Potential Bias in Data Interpretation
There’s a risk of bias in interpreting what job a product is hired to do, especially if the analysis is based on flawed or incomplete customer data.
When to Use the Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
For Product Development
The JTBD Framework is particularly useful in product development, helping teams create products that directly address specific customer jobs.
In Market Segmentation
It aids in market segmentation by categorizing customers based on the jobs they are trying to get done, rather than traditional demographics.
During Customer Experience Design
Using JTBD can enhance customer experience design by focusing on the satisfaction of completing a job, leading to better customer engagement and loyalty.
For Business Model Innovation
The framework can be instrumental in business model innovation, offering new ways to think about value creation and delivery.
How to Implement the Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
Identifying Customer Jobs
Start by identifying the primary jobs customers are trying to accomplish. This involves extensive customer research and analysis.
Understanding the Context
Analyze the specific context in which customers perform these jobs. Context includes when, where, and how the job is done.
Evaluating the Emotional and Social Dimensions
Explore the emotional and social aspects of the job. Understanding why customers feel a certain way about a job can provide deeper insights.
Developing Solutions
Design products or services that effectively fulfill the identified jobs, considering both functional and emotional aspects.
Continuous Feedback and Iteration
Regularly collect customer feedback to refine and iterate on the solutions, ensuring they continue to meet evolving jobs-to-be-done.
What to Expect from Implementing the Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
Improved Customer Insights
The framework offers deeper insights into customer needs and behaviors, leading to more customer-centric product development.
Enhanced Product Relevance
Products and services developed using the JTBD Framework are often more closely aligned with actual customer needs, enhancing their relevance and appeal.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
By focusing on the job customers are hiring a product to do, businesses can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Potential for Market Disruption
The JTBD Framework can lead to innovative products that disrupt existing markets or create new ones.
Continuous Learning and Adaptation
Implementing the JTBD Framework fosters a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, as businesses constantly seek to better understand and serve their customers’ needs.
Key takeaways
- The jobs-to-be-done-framework is an innovative approach to product development through a detailed analysis of customer needs.
- The jobs-to-be-done-framework helps a business address discrepancies between metrics it considers important and metrics considered important by the customer.
- The jobs-to-be-done-framework features an eight-step methodology that describes the evolution of a job from creating a plan to job execution and adjustment-making. This allows a business to systematically anticipate and then meet customer needs.
Key Highlights
- Definition: The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework is a concept that centers on the idea that consumers purchase products and services to fulfill specific needs or jobs in their lives. Unlike individual products, these underlying needs persist over time. Tony Ulwick popularized this theory, emphasizing the importance of understanding consumer metrics to develop successful products.
- Understanding the JTBD Framework:
- The primary reason products fail is the misalignment with consumer needs.
- The JTBD framework focuses on identifying enduring consumer needs to develop products that have a lasting impact.
- Developing products based on these needs enhances their longevity and promotes innovation.
- The framework ensures that products meet metrics important to consumers, increasing the chances of success.
- Eight-Step JTBD Methodology:
- Define: Customers begin by defining their objective and formulating a plan to achieve it. For example, Weight Watchers assists dieters in weight loss plans.
- Locate: Customers gather necessary items and information for the job. U-Haul innovates by providing tailored moving kits to customers.
- Prepare: Customers arrange inputs in the job environment. Automation, user guides, and safeguards can simplify this step.
- Confirm: Customers verify information before proceeding. Oracle’s merchandising software aids decisions in product sales.
- Execute: Needs arising from problems or delays during execution should be addressed. Kimberly-Clark’s heated water system maintains patient body temperature during surgery.
- Monitor: Monitoring aids execution. Nike’s sensor-equipped shoes provide real-time data for fitness goals.
- Modify: Adjustments should be minimized. Microsoft’s automatic update system simplifies the update process.
- Conclude: Customers complete the job. 3M simplified wound dressing removal by designing non-adhesive dressings.
- Key Elements To Remind:
- The JTBD framework focuses on consumer needs for product development.
- Aligning metrics important to both the business and consumers is crucial.
- The eight-step methodology guides the evolution of a job from planning to conclusion.
- Understanding customer needs systematically allows businesses to anticipate and address them effectively.
FourWeekMBA Business Toolbox
Asymmetric Betting
Main Free Guides:
