Jobs to be Done receives mixed reviews. Some praise its practical approach to innovation, focusing on customer needs rather than solutions. However, many criticize the book for being overly self-promotional, repetitive, and lacking in concrete tools for implementation. Readers appreciate the core concept but find the execution lacking. Several reviewers note that the book feels like an advertisement for the author's consulting services. While some find value in the framework, others argue it simply repackages existing product development wisdom.
Jobs-to-be-Done Theory: A revolutionary approach to understanding customer needs
The Jobs-to-be-Done Needs Framework: Categorizing and defining customer needs
Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI): Putting Jobs Theory into practice
Uncovering customer desired outcomes: The key to successful innovation
Outcome-Based Segmentation: Discovering hidden market opportunities
The Jobs-to-be-Done Growth Strategy Matrix: Choosing the right innovation strategy
Implementing ODI: Transforming organizations for predictable innovation success
Jobs-to-be-Done Theory provides a framework for (i) categorizing, defining, capturing, and organizing all your customer's needs, and (ii) tying customer-defined performance metrics (in the form of desired outcome statements) to the Job-to-be-Done.
Paradigm shift in innovation. Jobs-to-be-Done Theory revolutionizes how companies approach innovation by focusing on the fundamental job customers are trying to accomplish, rather than on products or demographics. This perspective allows companies to:
Identify all customer needs systematically
Understand the metrics customers use to measure success
Develop solutions that address unmet needs more effectively
Stability and universality. The theory posits that jobs remain stable over time and across geographies, providing a reliable foundation for long-term innovation strategies. This stability contrasts with the ever-changing nature of products and technologies, allowing companies to:
Create enduring value propositions
Develop globally relevant solutions
Innovate consistently across product cycles
While a job describes the overall task the customer is trying to execute, an outcome is a metric the customer uses to measure success and value while executing a job.
Comprehensive needs analysis. The Jobs-to-be-Done Needs Framework provides a structured approach to understanding and categorizing customer needs, encompassing:
Core functional Job-to-be-Done
Desired outcomes tied to the core functional job
Related jobs
Emotional and social jobs
Consumption chain jobs
Buyer's financial desired outcomes
Actionable insights. By breaking down customer needs into these distinct categories, companies can:
Develop more targeted and effective solutions
Address both functional and emotional aspects of customer needs
Improve the entire customer experience, from purchase to disposal
Outcome-Driven Innovation is a strategy and innovation process that enables companies to conceptualize and invent new solutions that help customers get a job done better and/or more cheaply.
Systematic innovation process. ODI transforms Jobs Theory into a practical, step-by-step methodology for innovation, including:
Defining the customer
Defining the Job-to-be-Done
Uncovering customer needs
Finding segments of opportunity
Defining the value proposition
Conducting competitive analysis
Formulating innovation strategy
Targeting hidden growth opportunities
Formulating market strategy
Formulating product strategy
Data-driven decision making. By following this process, companies can:
Reduce guesswork in innovation
Align product development with customer needs
Increase the probability of market success
Desired outcome statements explain precisely how customers measure success and value as they go through each step of the core functional job.
Precise need definition. Desired outcome statements are carefully constructed to capture customer needs in a measurable, actionable format. These statements:
Follow a specific structure: direction of improvement + performance metric + object of control + contextual clarifier
Are solution-agnostic, focusing on the underlying need rather than specific product features
Provide a clear target for innovation efforts
Comprehensive job analysis. By mapping out the entire job process and capturing desired outcomes for each step, companies can:
Identify previously overlooked opportunities for innovation
Develop solutions that address the entire job, not just parts of it
Create more holistic and effective products or services
The only way to discover segments of customers with unique sets of unmet needs is to segment the market around unmet needs.
Beyond traditional segmentation. Outcome-Based Segmentation moves past demographic or psychographic categorizations to identify groups based on their unmet needs. This approach:
Reveals hidden segments with unique opportunities
Provides a more accurate picture of market dynamics
Enables more targeted and effective innovation strategies
Data-driven market analysis. The process involves:
Capturing all customer needs as desired outcome statements
Conducting quantitative research to prioritize needs
Using factor and cluster analysis to identify segments with similar unmet needs
Profiling segments to understand underlying factors causing unmet needs
New products and services win in the marketplace if they help customers get a job done better (faster, more predictably, with higher output) and/or more cheaply.
Strategic innovation framework. The Growth Strategy Matrix guides companies in selecting the most appropriate innovation strategy based on market conditions:
Differentiated strategy: Better but more expensive
Dominant strategy: Better and cheaper
Disruptive strategy: Worse but cheaper
Discrete strategy: Worse and more expensive (niche situations)
Sustaining strategy: Slightly better or cheaper
Informed strategy selection. By understanding the underserved and overserved segments in their market, companies can:
Choose the most effective growth strategy
Align product development with market opportunities
Increase the likelihood of successful innovation
Building an outcome-driven organization is best accomplished in three phases: I: Understand your Customer's Job-to-be-Done, II. Discover Hidden Opportunities in Your Market, III. Use New Customer Insights to Drive Growth
Organizational transformation. Implementing ODI involves:
Creating a team of internal ODI practitioners
Establishing an Innovation Center of Excellence
Applying Jobs Theory and ODI practices to selected markets
Phased implementation approach. The three-phase process allows companies to:
Gain a deep understanding of customer jobs and needs
Uncover hidden market opportunities through quantitative research
Apply insights to drive growth through improved market and product strategies
By following this approach, organizations can systematically transform their innovation processes, leading to more predictable and successful outcomes.