How to create a product your customer loves 1/3: Jobs-to-be-Done
By: Anton De Meester
Tags: Jobs To Be Done

Do you want to impress the world with a brand-new innovation? Then you have to make sure you provide a solution to a task that your customer is trying to get done.

Jobs-to-be-Done is a method to set out the path your customer is trying to do. Outcome Driven Innovation uses that path to get quantitative data. This data allows you to understand your customers. These two frameworks make sure that people want your product.

Quite a few people have already written about the theory behind those two. Reading about it is easy. Doing it is quite a bit harder. My colleague Wouter Lachat has already written about our main learnings from doing it ourselves.

In three separate blogposts, I will present a practical guide for Jobs-to-be-Done. We have templates to guide you through this methodology. These templates are available on our site: www.0smosis.com/templates

My first blogpost will focus on the Jobs-to-be-Done framework.

THE JOBS-TO-BE-DONE FRAMEWORK

The first step is to define your Jobs-to-be-Done. Using our template, it becomes quite easy to see the whole picture. If you fill in the complete template, you will have everything you need to go to the next step. I have filled in the template with the example of Helder Lenen to guide you through. Helder Lenen is a digital mortgage loan aggregator for the Belgian market. So the template focuses on “Financing my house when buying a new one”. To make sure the text remains readable, I filled in only a couple jobs per step. Excuse my awful handwriting.

Filled in Jobs-to-be-Done template of 0smosis

Some important points for each of the topics.

The Main Job needs to be well defined, not too broad and not too narrow. It is the basis for the rest of the framework so getting this wrong will lead to some trouble.

“Live in my home” is a bad Job because it is too broad and doesn’t include an action. We narrow it down to “Finance my house when buying a new one”.

needs to be well defined, not too broad and not too narrow. It is the basis for the rest of the framework so getting this wrong will lead to some trouble. “Live in my home” is a bad Job because it is too broad and doesn’t include an action. We narrow it down to “Finance my house when buying a new one”. The Job Map gives a goal-oriented view on the customer journey. Don’t describe what the customer is doing but what she is trying to do.

Don’t say “Check the balance on my bank account” but go for “Assess my financial situation”.

gives a goal-oriented view on the customer journey. Don’t describe what the customer is doing but what she is trying to do. Don’t say “Check the balance on my bank account” but go for “Assess my financial situation”. Emotional Jobs are very important in sectors that rely on trust such as Financial Services. Don’t forget them while building your framework.

“Feel in control of the situation” was mentioned often in the interviews. (The interviewees weren’t very happy about that job).

are very important in sectors that rely on trust such as Financial Services. Don’t forget them while building your framework. “Feel in control of the situation” was mentioned often in the interviews. (The interviewees weren’t very happy about that job). Social Jobs are very important for any product that people show to others. Obvious examples are cars and clothes but other are phones and travel bags.

“Show that I received a good deal” came up quite a few times during interviews. Even for boring products as mortgages, people like to show off.

are very important for any product that people show to others. Obvious examples are cars and clothes but other are phones and travel bags. “Show that I received a good deal” came up quite a few times during interviews. Even for boring products as mortgages, people like to show off. Related Jobs provide you with options to expand your product. Especially for mature products, they can help you define new features.

For Helder, some related jobs to consider later are: finding the house, renovating it etc.

provide you with options to expand your product. Especially for mature products, they can help you define new features. For Helder, some related jobs to consider later are: finding the house, renovating it etc. Financial Jobs go further than the initial price. Think of subscription price, repair price, price to change etc.

The intrest rate is not the only relevant metric. There are also additional fees such as notary costs.

go further than the initial price. Think of subscription price, repair price, price to change etc. The intrest rate is not the only relevant metric. There are also additional fees such as notary costs. Consumption Chain Jobs are jobs around User Experience. Not all steps apply to every product, but these help you stand out from the crowd.

We make sure that Helder is an easy-to-learn, easy-to-use application.

That’s it for the first part on our practical guide to Jobs-to-be-Done, on the framework. To really learn Jobs-to-be-Done, I advise you to just do it. Reading about it only gets you that far.

What do you think are the hardest parts of the Jobs-to-be-Done framework?