https://2008.maxspeicher.com/2020/05/11/jobs-to-be-done-in-a-nutshell/
TL;DR: The theory of Jobs To Be Done explains that too much focus on socio-demographic data and correlations hurts companies. Rather, you have to gain a deeper understanding of your customers, who “hire” your product to help them do certain jobs under certain circumstances. For instance, you don’t buy a video game console because you’re male and over 30. You hire it to, e.g., do the job “connect with friends”.
It was only two years ago that I first heard about the theory of Jobs To Be Done (abbreviated: JTBD). Since then, the approach has gained traction in user experience and conversion rate optimization environments. But what exactly is a Job To Be Done? Here’s a brief primer.
The first article I ever read on the topic was published in Harvard Business Review in September 2016 (by Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan). Therefore, this one will be my primary source for the remainder of this article.
The core argument of Christensen et al. is that for understanding their customers, companies are focusing too much on socio-demographic properties rather than paying attention to customers’ actual problems. Or, as they put it:
After decades of watching great companies fail, we’ve come to the conclusion that the focus on correlation—and on knowing more and more about customers—is taking firms in the wrong direction. What they really need to home in on is the progress that the customer is trying to make in a given circumstance—what the customer hopes to accomplish. This is what we’ve come to call the job to be done.
This means, very simply put, rather than saying “Buyers of the Washington Post usually are over 40 and from metropolitan areas”—thus assuming that anyone over 40 from a metropolitan area is a potential buyer—say: “Buyers of the Washington Post want to be informed about current events by a credible source”.
This focus on problems is key, because, according to Christensen et al., “when we buy a product, we essentially ‘hire’ it to help us do a job”. In my above example, there are actually two jobs: become informed about current events and find a credible source. And the Washington Post seems to be good at doing both of those.
Besides customers’ actual problems, however, there’s another key factor: circumstances. For this, let’s have a look at a different example:
I own a Nintendo Switch. Now, which jobs does my Switch help me accomplish? I can think of a couple:
Yet, each of these jobs is more or less relevant depending on the given circumstances. Job № 1 might be the one to do when I’m feeling down, job numbers 2 and 4 when I’m bored, and job № 3 when I miss my friends.
Nintendo might know that I’m a German male over 30 with a job in eCommerce, but doesn’t the above tell them much more about why I’ve bought a Switch and will (most probably) keep buying Nintendo products in the future? Christensen et al. answer this (slightly rhetorical) question:
The circumstances are more important than customer characteristics, product attributes, new technologies, or trends.