Imagine three people who buy coffee in the morning. The product is the same, but the purposes for which they buy it are different. One needs to wake up urgently, another sticks to a daily ritual. The third enjoys a casual conversation with a new colleague over a cup of coffee, while also warming his hands on the hot mug. In all cases, coffee works and is in demand, but it performs different tasks. This is precisely what the concept of Jobs to be Done defines—creating products that users need and that meet their requirements.
What is JTBD
Jobs to be Done is a concept stating that people acquire certain products to solve their problems and achieve goals. The same product helps to achieve different objectives. For example, two men buy a car: one to quickly travel from point A to point B (incidentally, for this purpose, he might use a motorcycle or a scooter), and the other to emphasize his status. Two women get eyelash extensions: one to resemble an actress, and the other because her own eyelashes don't grow at all. Two people maintain social media accounts: one to share photos with friends and relatives, and the other to promote their goods and services. In all these cases, consumers "hire" the same product but achieve different goals.
Jobs to be Done helps understand why people purchase certain goods or use certain services and the reasons behind their needs. From this understanding, you can offer them a product that addresses their tasks and issues.
Jobs to be Done does not create a collective image of the target audience; instead, it helps explore the user's needs and the motives for purchasing a product or service. Thus, you can create products that respond to customers' internal queries and solve their tasks.
Why the concept of Jobs to be Done is needed
The main task of Jobs to be Done is to create a product that will be in demand in the market. This concept helps understand why consumers chose your product in the past and what they might need in the future. When JTBD is combined with other research methods, you get a great working theory to offer consumers truly important and necessary products.
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JTBD gives insight into why consumers purchase or use these products and their value in solving specific problems. Returning to the coffee example: waking up can be achieved not only with a cup of coffee but also with tea or morning exercises. A casual conversation can take place with a soda in hand or during a walk. But for many, coffee is the battery or unifying moment—simply because it does it better than others.
Who needs the concept of Jobs to be Done
The "jobs" theory is suitable for everyone with any product, service, or offering. Jobs to be Done is often used when choosing a market. In this scenario, JTBD helps find the very group of consumers who want to solve the same tasks or change something in their lives with a new product.
The JTBD concept is also useful when creating a new offer. For example, if a company plans to improve a product, Jobs to be Done can help determine if customers need an updated item or if the current one successfully addresses their tasks.
Two methods in the concept of Jobs to be Done
The concept of Jobs to be Done distinguishes two working methods: Jobs-As-Progress and Jobs-As-Activities. The first approach was developed by a group of authors like Clayton Christensen, Bob Moesta, Alan Clement, and others. The second was developed by Anthony Ulwick. Notably, these methods have different perspectives on defining "jobs." You choose the one closer to you.
Jobs-As-Progress
Jobs-As-Progress assumes that the buyer wants to change and improve their life, becoming a better version of themselves in the future. They have certain desires but also constraints for fulfilling them, catalysts, and sets of solutions.
For instance, if a person wants to listen to music, 300 years ago, they would hire musicians for this purpose. Today, they simply take a smart speaker, plug in wireless headphones, and go about their business, remaining mobile and modern. According to this approach, a consumer wouldn't just buy a lawnmower for their lawn to look nice or a drill to hang a picture or do something else for more comfort and coziness. Consumers seek and acquire a product for the first time when they desire something better for themselves.
Jobs-As-Progress helps understand why consumers stop using a familiar product and start using another one, what dissatisfies them about the existing product, and how the new product will improve the consumer's life, elevate their social status, or enhance their mood.
Jobs-As-Activities
Anthony Ulwick’s approach is more pragmatic. According to this approach, consumers want to perform certain actions to achieve results. Therefore, they acquire wireless headphones to listen to music, a lawnmower to mow the grass, and a drill to drill holes in the wall.
The primary focus is on the beneficial actions the product performs to achieve results, while moral satisfaction and social approval are secondary.
How to apply Jobs to be Done in practice
Jobs to be Done is a theory that primarily helps understand how people make decisions, choose a product, service, or offering, and provides tools to make products understandable and useful. These tools include the correct definition of competitors, understanding user motivation, and making decisions about future development.
Correctly define competitors
In the Jobs to be Done concept, competitors are not only companies offering similar products but also the decisions consumers make to accomplish a task. They are divided into three types: direct, secondary, and indirect.
Direct competitors perform the same task. For example, two fast-food restaurants perform the same job in the same way: offering burgers, fries, and coffee.
Secondary competitors perform the same task differently. For instance, a freelancer wants to work in a cozy environment with a cup of coffee. For this purpose, they can stay home, head to a café, or a coworking space.
Another example is the need for a business meeting. It can be done via Skype or Zoom, or by flying business class. In this case, the competitors would be video conferencing platforms and airlines.
Also, restaurants may compete with cinemas or social media if the “job” the consumer hires them for is entertainment.
Indirect competitors perform different jobs that lead to conflicting results. For instance, a fast-food restaurant and a fitness tracker may compete for the same audience: people with opposing interests who dream of being athletic yet eat fast food.
Understand user motivation
What affects a potential client when they decide to purchase a product or service?
- Dissatisfaction with the current product.
- Advantages of the new product.
- Concerns that something might go wrong.
- Habit or attachment to what already exists.
For example, a user is dissatisfied that a fast-food restaurant offers burgers and fries but no sweet pies. Meanwhile, they know for certain another restaurant offers burgers, fries, and pies, and even ice cream. However, they worry about higher prices, longer delivery times, and smaller portions of fries. Moreover, they might be willing to accept the absence of sweet pies simply because they are accustomed to this restaurant.
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The first two factors, dissatisfaction with the current product and advantages of the new one, are reasons to switch to another product. The following two factors, fear of change and habit, are reasons to continue using the current product. It is important to correctly identify motives and shape an offer for the consumer that meets their needs. Research is necessary to decide the direction of further movement. This can involve surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups, forum analyses, platform reviews, and customer service calls.
Decide where to move next
To decide which direction to take next, you need to determine the audience and their needs. User Story and Job Story are typically used for this purpose. In the first case, you define the user profile, and in the second—the "jobs" your product is hired for.
User Story describes product functionality from the consumer's perspective. It works well for creating target personas when you know users well and do not aim to attract a large number of new users.
The structure of a User Story is usually: "As a (type of user) I want (action or goal) so that (result)." For example: "As a perpetually tired office worker who loves cats and skiing, I buy coffee to wake up in the morning and start working."
Photographer: Thirdman: https://www.pexels.com/ru-ru/photo/7653997/
In Job Story, the focus shifts from the buyer's personal characteristics to the context. This approach allows identifying similar behavioral motivations among different users in specific situations, making it effective when attracting new users with limited data about a new audience.
The Job Story structure is: "When (situation) I want (motivation) so that (result)." For example, "When in the mornings I can't start working, I buy coffee to wake up and begin working."
After formulating hypotheses with Job Story, validate them through user interviews. Interview results should shed light on the following aspects:
- Desires: what the user wants but cannot currently obtain;
- Catalysts: what influenced the emergence of the desire;
- Constraints: what prevents obtaining the desired result;
- Solutions: what products can address this task.
For example: a client started actively developing their website (catalyst) to increase sales of their product (desire). However, it turned out that the website information was outdated, the site itself was old, and there wasn't enough functionality (constraint). Therefore, a solution to site development is needed—start updating the information or create a new website (solution).
The concept of Jobs to be Done can be used to improve existing products or create fundamentally new solutions for the "job" the product aims to be "hired" for. The most important aspect is to properly define competitors and understand user motivation. Then the "job" of the product will transition from "to be done" to "done."
