Revolutionize Your Innovation Strategy with the Job-to-Be-Done Theory
Embracing the mantra “Innovate or Die” is common among many companies. Managers understand the necessity of constant improvement to stay ahead of competitors. However, in my conversations with companies, many struggle to develop meaningful innovation strategies. Innovation often ends up in the realms of serendipity or randomness.
Corey Tuinstra and Lourival Monaco
Embracing the mantra “Innovate or Die” is common among many companies. Managers understand the necessity of constant improvement to stay ahead of competitors. However, in my conversations with companies, many struggle to develop meaningful innovation strategies. Innovation often ends up in the realms of serendipity or randomness.
I’d like to describe one approach that you can use to improve your innovation processes. It is a crucial first step to designing a holistic innovation strategy. This approach is well-known in some circles, but it is yet to have wide use among the food and agriculture community. Further, its application is most relevant for complex systems - like the food and agriculture system.
The approach I’d like to describe is the job-to-be-done theory.
Job-to-be-done theory is a powerful lens through which to observe every customer interaction. It recognizes that every time a consumer uses a product or service, they are “hiring” it to fill a job in their lives. This unique perspective of customers’ behavior allows one to understand what a customer will consume, even with dramatic context changes.
A Brief Overview
Jobs-to-be-done theory is a framework, but at a deeper level, it is a perspective change. So before I begin, I need you to do one thing: forget your role as a businessperson, and take on the perspective of a customer. Maybe choose something practical in your life that you buy. I’ll take toothpaste for example.
To Start, Identify your Customer’s Core Objective
Begin by asking yourself, “What outcome will my offering help me create?” A job-to-be-done starts first with a core objective or outcome from a customer. This is the job statement.
In the case of toothpaste, there are a number of outcomes I want it to produce. In a real marketing scenario these would be found through market research, but here are a few I came up with off the top of my head (not exhaustive by any means):
- Have white teeth, Have no cavities, Have better breath, Have better gums
Next, turn those outcomes into problem statements with specific circumstances. Here’s a sample of what those could be:
This list isn’t absolutely complete, but it does illustrate one point: I don’t buy toothpaste. I buy a solution to fundamental problems I have, in circumstances where I find them. It also demonstrates the danger of looking at your products with a category/product-based view. If you as a marketer get focused on improving “toothpaste” instead of continuing to solve these problems, you will get displaced when new technologies come along.
Clayton Christenson, a Harvard Professor, famously described this through his research on milkshakes.
“When a fast-food restaurant resolved to improve sales of its milkshake, its marketers first defined the market segment by product — milkshakes — and then segmented it further by profiling the customer most likely to buy a milkshake… The consequent improvements to the product had no impact on sales.
“Then a new researcher… asked ‘Excuse me, but could you please tell me what job you needed to get done for yourself when you came here to hire the milkshake?’... Most of them, it turned out, bought their shakes for similar reasons:
- They faced a long, boring commute and needed something to keep that extra hand busy and to make the commute more interesting.
- They weren’t yet hungry but knew that they’d be hungry by 10 a.m.
- They wanted to consume something now that would stave off hunger until noon.
“Understanding the job and improving the product on dimensions of the experience so that it does the job better would cause the company’s milkshakes to gain share against the real competition — not just competing chains’ milkshakes but donuts, bagels, bananas and boredom.”
Next, Identify How your Customers Judge Possible Solutions
Now that you’ve identified how your customers think about their problems, you need to evaluate how your customers will consider solutions. Even though customers buy to solve an underlying problem, they choose between different solutions based on certain commonly held metrics. These metrics can be narrowed into three buckets: functional, emotional, and social characteristics. (Some literature also includes epistemic and conditional values, but I will use these three for the purposes of this writing.)
Think about the metrics that I would use to choose between different types of toothpaste. These metrics might include the following:
Functional
- Affordability
- Easy and time-saving to use
- Size
- Sensation (sort of emotional also)
Emotional
- Nostalgia
- Assurance of Quality
Social
- Others’ perception of your freshness
As you design your toothpaste (or other offering) it’s critical to ensure that it meets the fundamental problem, but it’s also important that you design to meet customer metrics to solve that problem. Many disruptive innovations occur when offerings that are solving a problem misjudge the markets’ metrics for the solution.
In a classic example, Netflix and Blockbuster both solved a bundle of underlying problems in entertainment, but Netflix understood that a portion of the market had different metrics for those problems (after Reed Hastings had $40 in late fees). Blockbuster was sourcing metrics from their best customers (those that bought the newest releases, primarily), a myopic lens that eventually led to their downfall.
Now, List the Barriers to Solutions
Conversely, to metrics, you now need to think about what is preventing consumption. Purdue’s Institute for Innovation Science has a list of seven buckets that can describe any barrier to consumption: skill, wealth, access, time, behavior, attitude, and belief.
Potential barriers to consumption of toothpaste could include the following:
Skill - “I don’t know how to use your toothpaste.” (think small children)
Wealth - “I can’t afford your toothpaste.”
Access - “I can only buy your toothpaste at the grocery store.”
Time - “I don’t have enough time to use your toothpaste.”
Behavior - “I’m not in the habit of using your toothpaste.”
Attitude - “I don’t believe that toothpaste is necessary.”
Belief - “My beliefs limit me from using your toothpaste.” (Usually religious-related)
Barriers, like metrics, are an important part of your solution design. Successful ventures will search for barriers among their customer base and solve them proactively.
Take for example Minute Clinic: MinuteClinic recognized that customers had a core problem, “Help me be healed of small health issues”. They saw that customers had a number of metrics that couldn’t be met because of barriers like time, wealth, and access in traditional healthcare. MinicClinic designed a solution that proactively overcame these barriers, a solution that staffed clinics with nurse practitioners and PAs, allowing quick and cost-effective service for small health issues. They were acquired by CVS in 2006 and have grown to over 1,100 locations.
Finally, Consider Potential Solutions
You’ve considered the core problem, metrics, and barriers. Now you can begin to understand the kinds of offerings your customer truly wants.
This isn’t a formula, but rather it’s a way to alter your perspective on how customers choose offerings. With this perspective, you can better understand your competitors, potential ventures, and prioritization of growth investments.
Corey Tuinstra and Lourival Monaco
Embracing the mantra “Innovate or Die” is common among many companies. Managers understand the necessity of constant improvement to stay ahead of competitors. However, in my conversations with companies, many struggle to develop meaningful innovation strategies. Innovation often ends up in the realms of serendipity or randomness.
I’d like to describe one approach that you can use to improve your innovation processes. It is a crucial first step to designing a holistic innovation strategy. This approach is well-known in some circles, but it is yet to have wide use among the food and agriculture community. Further, its application is most relevant for complex systems - like the food and agriculture system.
The approach I’d like to describe is the job-to-be-done theory.
Job-to-be-done theory is a powerful lens through which to observe every customer interaction. It recognizes that every time a consumer uses a product or service, they are “hiring” it to fill a job in their lives. This unique perspective of customers’ behavior allows one to understand what a customer will consume, even with dramatic context changes.
A Brief Overview
Jobs-to-be-done theory is a framework, but at a deeper level, it is a perspective change. So before I begin, I need you to do one thing: forget your role as a businessperson, and take on the perspective of a customer. Maybe choose something practical in your life that you buy. I’ll take toothpaste for example.
To Start, Identify your Customer’s Core Objective
Begin by asking yourself, “What outcome will my offering help me create?” A job-to-be-done starts first with a core objective or outcome from a customer. This is the job statement.
In the case of toothpaste, there are a number of outcomes I want it to produce. In a real marketing scenario these would be found through market research, but here are a few I came up with off the top of my head (not exhaustive by any means):
- Have white teeth, Have no cavities, Have better breath, Have better gums
Next, turn those outcomes into problem statements with specific circumstances. Here’s a sample of what those could be:
This list isn’t absolutely complete, but it does illustrate one point: I don’t buy toothpaste. I buy a solution to fundamental problems I have, in circumstances where I find them. It also demonstrates the danger of looking at your products with a category/product-based view. If you as a marketer get focused on improving “toothpaste” instead of continuing to solve these problems, you will get displaced when new technologies come along.
Clayton Christenson, a Harvard Professor, famously described this through his research on milkshakes.
“When a fast-food restaurant resolved to improve sales of its milkshake, its marketers first defined the market segment by product — milkshakes — and then segmented it further by profiling the customer most likely to buy a milkshake… The consequent improvements to the product had no impact on sales.
“Then a new researcher… asked ‘Excuse me, but could you please tell me what job you needed to get done for yourself when you came here to hire the milkshake?’... Most of them, it turned out, bought their shakes for similar reasons:
- They faced a long, boring commute and needed something to keep that extra hand busy and to make the commute more interesting.
- They weren’t yet hungry but knew that they’d be hungry by 10 a.m.
- They wanted to consume something now that would stave off hunger until noon.
“Understanding the job and improving the product on dimensions of the experience so that it does the job better would cause the company’s milkshakes to gain share against the real competition — not just competing chains’ milkshakes but donuts, bagels, bananas and boredom.”
Next, Identify How your Customers Judge Possible Solutions
Now that you’ve identified how your customers think about their problems, you need to evaluate how your customers will consider solutions. Even though customers buy to solve an underlying problem, they choose between different solutions based on certain commonly held metrics. These metrics can be narrowed into three buckets: functional, emotional, and social characteristics. (Some literature also includes epistemic and conditional values, but I will use these three for the purposes of this writing.)
Think about the metrics that I would use to choose between different types of toothpaste. These metrics might include the following:
Functional
- Affordability
- Easy and time-saving to use
- Size
- Sensation (sort of emotional also)
Emotional
- Nostalgia
- Assurance of Quality
Social
- Others’ perception of your freshness
As you design your toothpaste (or other offering) it’s critical to ensure that it meets the fundamental problem, but it’s also important that you design to meet customer metrics to solve that problem. Many disruptive innovations occur when offerings that are solving a problem misjudge the markets’ metrics for the solution.
In a classic example, Netflix and Blockbuster both solved a bundle of underlying problems in entertainment, but Netflix understood that a portion of the market had different metrics for those problems (after Reed Hastings had $40 in late fees). Blockbuster was sourcing metrics from their best customers (those that bought the newest releases, primarily), a myopic lens that eventually led to their downfall.
Now, List the Barriers to Solutions
Conversely, to metrics, you now need to think about what is preventing consumption. Purdue’s Institute for Innovation Science has a list of seven buckets that can describe any barrier to consumption: skill, wealth, access, time, behavior, attitude, and belief.
Potential barriers to consumption of toothpaste could include the following:
Skill - “I don’t know how to use your toothpaste.” (think small children)
Wealth - “I can’t afford your toothpaste.”
Access - “I can only buy your toothpaste at the grocery store.”
Time - “I don’t have enough time to use your toothpaste.”
Behavior - “I’m not in the habit of using your toothpaste.”
Attitude - “I don’t believe that toothpaste is necessary.”
Belief - “My beliefs limit me from using your toothpaste.” (Usually religious-related)
Barriers, like metrics, are an important part of your solution design. Successful ventures will search for barriers among their customer base and solve them proactively.
Take for example Minute Clinic: MinuteClinic recognized that customers had a core problem, “Help me be healed of small health issues”. They saw that customers had a number of metrics that couldn’t be met because of barriers like time, wealth, and access in traditional healthcare. MinicClinic designed a solution that proactively overcame these barriers, a solution that staffed clinics with nurse practitioners and PAs, allowing quick and cost-effective service for small health issues. They were acquired by CVS in 2006 and have grown to over 1,100 locations.
Finally, Consider Potential Solutions
You’ve considered the core problem, metrics, and barriers. Now you can begin to understand the kinds of offerings your customer truly wants.
This isn’t a formula, but rather it’s a way to alter your perspective on how customers choose offerings. With this perspective, you can better understand your competitors, potential ventures, and prioritization of growth investments.