Categorize the Jobs-to-be-Done
When choosing a product, a number of factors can affect our decisions. How can we organize and account for these diverse jobs? How can we ensure that we are considering all the psychological motivators of our audience?
JTBD is a powerful frame of reference that can be applied to product design, among other things. For a more detailed overview of JTBD, take a look at “An Introduction to Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) in Digital Product Design.”
How do we categorize the jobs that need to be done?
Have you ever purchased a car? Think back to the factors that ultimately influenced your decision. Likely there were a number of things that you took into consideration. Some of these factors may have been practical, such as mileage and fuel efficiency. But you probably also looked at cars that matched the aesthetic appeal you hoped for. The same basic principle can be applied to JTBD and the jobs our users are trying to get done.
Within JTBD, there are two kinds of jobs. The main job is essentially what you’re trying to get done. You may also identify some related jobs, or things that you’d like to accomplish at the same time as that main job. Each of those jobs have different aspects associated with them. Functional aspects are the practical and objective factors that affect a job, while emotional aspects deal with more subjective motivations. Emotional aspects can be driven by how we hope to feel while getting a job done (personal) or perhaps how others perceive us while getting this job done (social).
The relative importance that we place on these aspects vary depending on the job. For example, some jobs have a very low functional aspect, but a high emotional one. Video games are a good example of this — they provide very little practical value but encourage a healthy sense of competition and growth on an emotional level. On the other end of the spectrum, some products or solutions place a high value on its functional aspects but a low value on emotional ones. Think about calculators for a moment. When choosing a calculator, it matters whether it does its intended job well, but I probably care less about how others perceive me while I use it.
A lot of products however, fall somewhere in the middle. Functional and emotional aspects are equally accounted for because they are equally important to a consumer. Think about companies such as Starbucks or Apple. They would not be successful unless their products were highly functional, but most people aren’t just buying these products because of their quality. These brands are built around evoking a sense of luxury, and so there’s a certain social perception associated with having that product.
Let’s consider an example
To help us understand how we can break down a job in this way, let’s consider a simple example. Suppose I want to analyze the motivations for the job, “I want to listen to music while I workout.” You could ascertain the following,
Notice that we break up the main job into functional and emotional aspects. In this particular example, they’re evenly rounded. But when we consider a brief history of how people got this job done over time, we’ll notice that it wasn’t always this way.
For example, when Sony first came out with the Walkman, it met the functional needs that a user might have while trying to listen to music and workout. However, the social aspects were not quite addressed yet. Dealing with physical assets greatly limited the variety of songs I could listen to while working out. It wasn’t until the rise of digital files that we were able to listen to more of the music we really wanted to listen to.
When our mobile phones started incorporating music players, we see how those main and related jobs were being addressed in one product. I could listen to music while working out, but also make a phone call if I needed to. Today, there is no shortage of apps and music streaming services. To take it a step further, I can sync my music with my workouts, get recommendations based on the heart rate I want to maintain, or even listen to playlists from my favorite athletes. The rise of music players is a classic example of how a product that was at one point simply functional, addressed our emotional needs as the technology allowed for it.
How can I apply this to product design?
- Start by identifying a main or related job that your users are trying to achieve. From there, break down the functional and emotional motivators.
- Once you’ve identified these aspects, you can adjust their relative importance. It may be that one of these is more relevant to an experience than the other is.
- Remember that highly functional products require a robust user experience to be successful. On the other hand, products guided by emotional motivators are often built around an appealing visual design. It’s reassuring to note that no matter which way the product falls, product designers can still add value in some way.
This is article 4 of 6 in the series “Applying Digital Product Design to Jobs-to-be-Done.” Next up, learn how to Create Job Statements.
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