
Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done” (2016) - tosh
https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be-done
======
andygcook
This video from Clayton Christensen gives a good summary of Jobs To Be Done
using milkshakes at a fast food restaurant as an example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfGtw2C95Ms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfGtw2C95Ms)

Unrelated, but I saw Clayton Christensen speak at a conference years ago. He
started out the talk by telling everyone that he had a stroke years earlier
and after it, he couldn't speak clearly. For a professor, you can imagine
that's not ideal. So he went out and bought Rosetta Stone and taught himself
how to talk again. I was blown away and besides a few small stutters during
the talk, I barely noticed. That story of grit always stuck with me as a truly
remarkable example of how versatile humans can be.

~~~
x2f10
Interesting video. I'm sad there was no answer. How do you improve the fast-
food milkshake in this scenario?

~~~
RoboCheeks
I feel like the “ideal” option would be to create something milkshake-like
(takes a while to eat, is filling) and take away some of the negative aspects
of milkshakes (lots of sugar, unhealthy).

Introducing “Morning Protein Boosts” all the vitamins and minerals you need to
start your day, in a semi-frozen liquid form.

~~~
x2f10
Damn - you're good. I will keep you in mind if any marketing positions open at
my company.

------
solidasparagus
JTBD is super overhyped (which is not to say bad). It is a clear, simple
concept - understand your role in your customers' lives by understanding what
could replace you.

It frustrates the bejesus out of me that every halfway thoughtful concept
needs to be bundled into a framework and sold.

The concept of selling to people isn't hard - execution is hard and people use
frameworks as a differentiator to sell their 'services'

~~~
tosh
Not disagreeing, adding another angle: while the map is not the territory,
tools and concepts are useful (to get a point across, to contextualize, to
make decisions, …)

JTBD imho is one of the simple yet not easy (to do) concepts that is very
useful, especially in the context of over-reliance on persona and correlation
(“data”-) driven decision-making.

JTBD might be overhyped in some circles but where it is not overhyped it might
just be exactly the concept needed to get out of a local optimum.

------
blueyes
I found the book "When Kale and Coffee Compete" to be helpful when
understanding JTBD.

[http://www.whencoffeeandkalecompete.com](http://www.whencoffeeandkalecompete.com)

While many startup teams take a product first, "if you build it they will
come" attitude, JTBD thinking can get you to a paradigm shift.

The best way I can describe it is:

Producers, consumers, solutions and jobs to be done all work together as parts
of the same system.

You have to see clearly your place, and your solution's place, in the system,
in order to build something people want.

If you can't see the system that your product fits into (and don't have ways
to get feedback from prospective users), you're probably building something
that you won't even be able to give away for free. And that spells failure.

------
csours
This reminds of satisficers and metrics.

Customers want a good paint job on their new car. You buy equipment to measure
paint quality. You get good at the metrics that the equipment produces. Then
you find that your competitors have better looking paint even though you have
a better score.

Keep your eye on the prize, and the prize is not the metrics.

~~~
bacon_waffle
"You get what you measure", as Richard Hamming put it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhcaVi3zPA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhcaVi3zPA)

~~~
csours
[https://youtu.be/LNhcaVi3zPA?t=1100](https://youtu.be/LNhcaVi3zPA?t=1100)
Holy Crap this resonates with me. I went to college with people who said "I
can code whatever you want, but I need someone to tell me what to code." ...
Now I work with people like that.

------
RocketSyntax
I was taught this concept around 2011 (marketer turned hacker), and have read
his books, so it's had some time to sink in.

It's similar to the concept of "tech in use." What people ACTUALLY use your
product for.

It's about discovering features and use cases you did not know you had. The
main job of the morning milkshake is a source of entertainment on a long
commute... not just hunger or sweettooth cravings.

What B2B products can learn is that your product may have mad benefits, but at
the end of the day it's just the 2020 strategy for a VP to keep up w the
industry trends. Focus on your buyer persona.

------
splittingTimes
Haven't read the whole article, but it sounds a lot like what the value
proposition canvas would deliver:

You start with the JTBD by the customer. Then you identify pains and gains of
these jobs.

Then you think of what "pain reliever" and "gain creators" you could offer and
how to bundle these in products/services.

[https://youtu.be/ReM1uqmVfP0](https://youtu.be/ReM1uqmVfP0)

