The Jobs to be Done framework, popularized by Clayton “Innovator’s Dilemma” Christensen, seeks to look at products by how they help customers get their jobs done.

Correlation/ Analytics may not provide the key insight – they only provide correlation, not causation.

How to find out:

Focus Group Discussions might reveal the key customer insight about why customers purchase your product

Some questions to guide your thinking?

What does the customer want to accomplish?

What are the circumstances of use for the customer? For example, how do they meet the needs currently?

Your product probably replacing another product that meets the need.

EXAMPLES.

Sellling condominiums to retirees

  • Hershey’s Reese’s Minis
  • American Girl – Delivering an enriching experience to pre-teen girl
  • Southern New Hampshire University

The question then becomes one of market research –

Here are the steps that

Readings:

  1. Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done”
  2. Turn customer inputs into innovation
  3. What is Jobs to be Done