As soon as a sufficiently convenient, effective or cheaper product comes along that overcomes the inertia of making the change, they’ll jump straight over. Users are only using your product because it’s quicker, easier, cheaper or more readily available than their alternatives. The higher order goal (or outcome) is what is important to users (in this example, ‘starting a family’). Product managers should realise that their product or service is not the important bit - it’s simply a means to an end for users. If it’s not possible to innovate disruptively in this way (perhaps due to some kind of constraint outside of our control), then we fall back to trying to streamline the status quo - but this should be only a temporary compromise on the vision.Īs may now be apparent, I share Christensen’s point of view. Not a bad result, by any means.Ĭhristensen would challenge us to see if there was a better path to home ownership that enabled a user to start a family in a nice neighbourhood without the faff of having to apply for a traditional mortgage in the first place. To go back to the mortgage example, Ulwick’s approach would be to simplify the process of applying for a mortgage to make it as painless and satisfying as possible for the user. Ulwick however would encourage us to focus on the user’s context for the task at hand, and to optimise the product to complete that task more efficiently and in a manner more satisfying to the user. This ties in with the positive disruption he describes in The Innovator’s Dilemma. This helps to frame their motivations and reveal opportunities to help them to achieve that goal more effectively, possibly with entirely different products or services helping them along the way. I feel that the effect of this difference is significant.Ĭhristensen would encourage us to figure the underlying reason why someone is trying to do something, to find out what their end-goal is. Ulwick would say that the job was ‘obtaining a mortgage’. To put it another way, if the task at hand was applying for a mortgage, Christensen would say the job (the end-goal) was something like ‘shortening my work commute’ or ‘having space to start a family in a nice neighbourhood’. It’s where you’d end up if you kept asking ‘why are you doing that’, over and over Ulwick defines the ‘job’ as the desired result of the immediate task at hand. To summarise the difference: Christensen defines the ‘job’ as the desired outcome, beyond the immediate task at hand. The other comes primarily from Anthony Ulwick, founder of consulting firm Strategyn. One originates primarily from the late, great Clayton Christensen of The Innovator’s Dilemma fame. There are (at least) two subtly different definitions of the nature of the goal (or user need). This much I agree with: your product is just a means to an end for users, it’s not the important bit.Īnd so we reach the point at which we open the metaphorical can of worms with JTBD. In a nutshell, JTBD encourages you to understand that your product or service exists purely to serve a user need or to help them achieve a goal. Until now, I’ve just not had enough of an understanding of it to make a more informed judgement. I can’t help but wonder if the people shouting loudest about a new framework’s many and varied benefits are simply the process consultants seeking to sell a new workshop package.Įven so, it’s difficult ignore the scores of people who use JTBD with their products and have found it tremendously useful. As I am with any other purportedly game-changing framework, I have been somewhat sceptical about JTBD. Jobs To Be Done is often misunderstood, making it difficult for some to begin applying itĪ favour: please share this with other product peopleĮvery PRODUCTHEAD edition is online for you to refer back to helloįor several years there’s been a constant, low-level buzz about Jobs To Be Done (JTBD). Users struggling to use your product to complete their tasks have unmet needsĬhristensen emphasises the higher order goal, Ulwick the task at hand Subscribe to PRODUCTHEAD you and whose product?Ī milkshake is really just a way to pass the time and stave off hunger on a long drive
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