7 must-read books on Jobs To Be Done
Customers are not interested in an interaction with you, your company, or even your product. Customers need to get a job done, and they will “hire” your product to do that job.
Jobs-to-be-Done is more than just a framework or exercise, but a way of thinking about how you organise yourself around, and respond to, customer needs.
This collection shares the best books on Jobs-to-be-Done, so you can create products that your customers will hire.
Intercom on Jobs-To-Be-Done
by Des Traynor
Why read?
Great products start with real problems. People buy products and services to get a job done. The key to success is understanding the real job customers are using your product for. Drawing together the most valuable lessons we’ve learned thus far, this book offers tried and tested advice on how you should be thinking about business, growth and innovation.
51 Pages, Intercom 2017
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Competing Against Luck
The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
by Clayton M. Christensen, Karen Dillon, Taddy Hall & David S. Duncan
Why read?
After years of research, Christensen and his co-authors have come to one critical conclusion: our long held maxim — that understanding the customer is the crux of innovation — is wrong. Customers don’t buy products or services; they “hire” them to do a job. Understanding customers does not drive innovation success, he argues. Understanding customer jobs does. The “Jobs to Be Done” approach can be seen in some of the world’s most respected companies and fast-growing startups, including Amazon, Intuit, Uber, Airbnb, and Chobani yogurt, to name just a few. But this book is not about celebrating these successes — it’s about predicting new ones.
This book carefully lays down the authors’ provocative framework, providing a comprehensive explanation of the theory and why it is predictive, how to use it in the real world — and, most importantly, how not to squander the insights it provides.
288 pages, Harper Business 2016
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The Jobs To Be Done Playbook
Align Your Markets, Organizations, and Strategy Around Customer Needs
by Jim Kalbach
Why read?
These days, consumers have real power: they can research companies, compare ratings, and find alternatives with a simple tap. Focusing on customer needs isn’t a nice to have, it’s a strategic imperative.
The Jobs To Be Done Playbook helps organizations turn market insight into action. This book shows you techniques to make offerings people want, as well as make people want your offering.
300 pages, Two Waves Books 2020
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Jobs to be Done
Theory to Practice
by Anthony W. Ulwick
Why read?
Why do so many innovation projects fail? What are the root causes of failure? How can they be avoided?
Since 1991, Tony Ulwick has pioneered an innovation process that answers these questions. In 1999, Tony introduced Clayton Christensen to the idea that “people have underlying needs or processes in their lives, that they are addressing in some way right now” — an insight that was to become Jobs-to-be-Done Theory.
202 pages, Idea Bite Press 2016
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When Coffee and Kale Compete
Become great at making products people will buy
by Alan Klement
Why read?
A Job to be Done is the process a consumer goes through whenever she aims to transform her existing life-situation into a preferred one, but cannot because there are constraints that stop her. When Coffee and Kale Compete by Alan Klement helps you become better at creating and selling products that people will buy.
227 pages, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2018
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Jobs to Be Done
A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation
by Stephen Wunker & Jessica Wattman & David Farber
Why read?
Successful innovation doesn’t begin with a brainstorming session — it starts with the customer. So in an age of unlimited data, why do more than 50% of new products fail to meet expectations? The truth is that we need to stop asking customers what they want, and start examining what they need.
First popularized by Clayton Christensen, the Jobs to be Done theory argues that people purchase products and services to solve a specific problem. They’re not buying ice cream, for example, but celebration, bonding, and indulgence.
224 pages, AMACOM 2016
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The Jobs-to-be-Done Handbook
Practical techniques for improving your application of Jobs-to-be-Done
by Chris Spiek & Bob Moesta
Why read?
This book is for the Jobs-to-be-Done student and practitioner alike, who may already have a grasp of the concepts. This book is your go-to reference for quickly referring to any of the concepts or processes, so that you can be effective in a flash.
66 pages, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2014
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