The Jobs to be Done Approach (JTBD) and Disruptive Innovation

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The Jobs to be Done Approach (JTBD) and Disruptive Innovation

BACKGROUND
The Theory of Disruptive Innovation helps companies capture opportunities and understand threats coming from their external environment. In particular for and from innovative entrepreneurial firms, typically offering web-based, low-end, technological substitutes. However, it fails to explain WHAT companies should do to innovate.
Traditionally, companies segment their markets by customer demographics or product characteristics and differentiate their offerings by adding features and functions.

JOBS TO BE DONE
The theory of "Jobs to be Done" (JTBD) can be closely related to the theory of disruption and provides a tool to come up with disruptive strategies. Building on earlier work by Tony Ulwick on Outcome Driven Innovation, Clayton Christensen argues that when customers buy a product from suppliers, what they REALLY want is to hire them to do a job. So we should think of ideas that make this job for the customer more simple, faster, better, more convenient, more fun or cheaper.
Understanding such 'jobs to be done' can give better, original insights to companies about which products or services they should offer. Furthermore, knowing how a job can be done in a better way than before can also help firms creating a better customer experience. This is where technology comes to the picture.

JOB TO BE DONE EXAMPLES
Theodore Levitt already said over 50 years ago: "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole". But if you think further about it, what they really want is to decorate their room by hanging a painting on the wall.
Another example is booking a room to stay for a night when you're abroad. The related 'job' is done better by a disruptive innovation than it was done before by traditional hotels and travel agencies for customers that want to enjoy independent travel, stay in affordable accommodations with locals and feel like a local when I travel. The disruptive innovation was Airbnb.

JOB TO BE DONE FRAMEWORK
The approach consists approximately of 4 main steps:

1. Define the jobs-to-be-done of the customer.
2. Make the customer describe the end result of each job-to-be-done.
3. Split each job-to-be-done into successive activities.
4. Consider in what way your customer's job can be made easier, etc.

SUMMARY
The theory of disruptive innovation explains whether an innovation will sustain in the market or not. It also gives insights about threats present in the market.
The theory of "Jobs to be Done" helps innovation managers of companies to think up how to innovate and what products, services and experience to offer to do a job a customer needs to have performed in a better way.

Sources:
Christensen, C., Hall, T., Dillon, K. and Duncan, D. (2016). Know Your Customers' "Jobs to Be Done". Harvard Business Review, (September 2016).
Dillon, K. (2016). What Airbnb Understands About Customers' "Jobs to Be Done". Harvard Business Review, (August 2016).

		Comments by date▼ Comments by rating Rating
		2 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Jobs To Be Done Approach To me, the jobs to be done approach is useful where the processes are relatively stable and continual improvement is done by measuring the metrics. On the other side of the same coin called sustenance of organization there are disruptive innovations that are going on by way of audit feedback and processes are relatively unstable. Here agile methodology will be of use. Unless both sides of the coin are sharp, an organization won't sustain for long.

		4 Jeff Washburn Strategy Consultant, United States
	Jobs to be Done is About what they Say versus what they Think The real advantage is not in making improvements in products for customers. As Akshay points out, they say that they want a 1/4 inch drill, but they think that they want a 1/4 inch hole. There is ambiguity in the statement of, "I want a 1/4 inch drill." If you opt to give them 1/4 inch drill, then you accept the statement at face value without looking at what they are imagining. A beautiful painting hanging in the perfect spot, for example. The best way to get the information that you really need for innovation is to ask for stories; not only the ones of how they used your product. Then parse the stories for patterns; the obvious and the hidden. Even better is to witness customers that are shopping for, using your, repairing or replacing your product. What you are trying to do with JTBD is to fill the (sometimes big) gap between What They Say and Think.

		3 Ivan Kohlinsky Management Consultant, Guernsey
	Jobs to be Done Approach is a Bit Like Lateral Thinking I found this very interesting, but can't really add much. In some ways it is akin to 'Lateral Thinking', but technically is more 'vertical thinking', but not in a simplistic way; looking behind the 'need'. Dare I also bring 'Systems Thinking' into this! Editor: 😃You just did.

		3 Morriss HR professional, Australia
	Customer Focus of Staff Needed for JTBD Empathy and good listening skills are required from the staff to understand the customer's point of view. Organizational systems that enable sharing new perspectives can lead to new solutions.

		2 umarani HR Consultant, India
	Jobs to Be Done is Thinking Ahead In my opinion, Jobs to be Done Theory really helps an organisation to think how to develop its processes to address customers requirements, desires and wishes in an innovative way. When organisations...

		4 Annalisa Cordoba Manager, Spain
	6 Basic Ideas Behind the Jobs to Be Done Theory Hi, I found following 6 basic 'tenants' of Jobs To Be done Theory in an interesting article by Anthony Ulwick, a pioneer of jobs-to-be-done theory: People buy products and services to get a “job” ...

		1 Neilson Asiedu Strategy Consultant, United States
	Job to Be Done is about Customer Experiences Job to be Done identifies the first step in creating good quality products with attributes that customers want, based on their specifics and on what price they are willing to pay. Customers' preferen...

		2 Aaron Agassi
	Simply: Means to Ends An objective may be a goal (end) in and of itselve, or a means to achieve some other end. This is nothing new. And to know where and when to be flexible and when less so, it will be important to disti...

		2 Rick Mueller Professor, United States
	Use of Jobs2Bdone in Prediction and Practice @Aaron Agassi: In the final lines or your response you come far closer to the answer than you may realize. People don't want a hole in the wall. They may want transparency (as you suggested), or a ...

		3 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	From JTBD to a Successful Personal Transformation? According to Bettencourt et al. companies are focusing too much on the quality, convenience, or experience of their offerings. Instead they recommend to try to become a full-fledged partner with cons...

		3 Dr. Alan Williams Professor, Thailand
	Jobs to be Done / Innovation As a consultant I've advised / suggested structured systems to several companies on this subject and when I came in as a replacement CEO in the multinational I was employed by I've seen this situation...

		2 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Deep Level Thinking About your Product-Service Mix @Akshay Nimal: This point: "People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole". But if you think further about it, what they really want is to decorate their room by hangin...

		1 Molokanova Professor, Ukraine
	What Companies Should do to Innovate Advances in technology make it possible to make goods and services more and more individual, adapted to the needs of the customer. On the other hand, companies want to standardize their processes, and...