JTBD, STBD, BTBD, PTBD. . . ?

Jobs to be done, services to be done, brands to be done, products to be done??? Where’s the line drawn?

The “Jobs To Be Done” exercise has been powerful for budding founders and executives of all company sizes to ensure they’re delivering and capturing ultimate value. In my own experience of starting a company and in many other scenarios, I’ve heard that new business ideas come from thinking about questions like “what bothers you?” and “what challenges do you experience in your everyday life?”. Jobs To Be Done takes these questions even further by getting at the circumstances that surround these challenges and breaking down these circumstances into functional, social, and emotional dimensions.

Thinking about circumstances is critical for successful product and service design launches because context is king. Have you ever made a decision without a “why” or a “how” behind that decision? Neither have I. So why do companies make products to solve human needs without thinking about the circumstances of the humans? According to Clayton Christensen, founder of Jobs to Be Done, along with others, “The circumstances are more important than customer characteristics, product attributes, new technologies, or trends. . .But when they saw innovation through the lens of the customers’ circumstances, the competitive playing field looked totally different.”*

Upon considering companies that help me perform “jobs,” in my daily life, two immediately came to mind — Perfect Bars and Trader Joe’s. Here’s why:

• I have a Perfect Bar for breakfast nearly every day because they are delicious, filling, and healthy. Like many, I don’t sit down and enjoy my breakfast, nor do I want to make the time to prepare anything. They are so delicious that they almost feel like a dessert, and there are new flavors that come out every so often, like the recent Pumpkin Pie edition. The “job” here is a delicious, healthy breakfast on the go.
• Also in my routine is a weekly trip to Trader Joe’s. The “job” here isn’t just getting my groceries. I have a love of “TJ’s” because it is entertaining, and it is easy to navigate the store. I do a couple things every time I go: adding one item I’ve never tried before to my cart and checking out the end cap with the new items. The “job” here is an affordable grocery experience that surprises and delights.

In both of the examples above, notice how unclear the boundaries are between products, services, and brands. “Perfect Bar” encompasses the delicious, healthy bar itself, and the “perfect” brand which includes the idea of getting “access to delicious, whole food nutrition”. Trader Joe’s is about the individual SKUs in the store (my new cart item this week was Chicken Shu Mai), yet it’s also about the service: knowing that I’ll have a “welcoming journey full of discovery and fun” (hello, friendly employees in Hawaiian shirts!).

So, when thinking about Jobs to Be Done, it is important to connect the dots and perform these jobs at multiple levels. Like Perfect Bar, If you’re working at a product level, how will the brand reflect the “jobs” of the product? If working at the service level (Trader Joe’s), how will the products meet the needs of that service?

No longer are consumers going __________ to buy ___________. They feel ___________ and know that ____________ can meet that functional, social, and/or emotional need. Jobs, products, services, and brand are much more than meets the 👁 .

😌 🥳 🤗 😎 😝 😆 😍 😌 🥳 🤗 😎 😝 😆 😍 😌 🥳 🤗 😎 😝 😆 😍 😌 🥳 🤗 😎 😝

*https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be-done