Identify Jobs Users are Trying to Get Done
How can we understand the true value of existing products, uncover the problems they really solve, and innovate further to add value?
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 I identify jobs users are trying to get done?
In order to identify jobs that users are trying to get done, it’s important to find out what they are truly trying to accomplish. In most cases, this can be done simply by observing existing user processes.
We may ask the following questions: How are users trying to accomplish this task today? What compensations are they making in order to make a current solution work better for them? These compensations or bandaids can be the perfect place to start innovating.
Let’s take a look at how some companies have identified the jobs customers are actually trying to get done and how they have innovated existing products to address them.
Tidy Cats LightWeight Litter
Have you ever owned a cat? If you have, then you probably know how heavy cat litter can be. By observing their users, Tidy Cats realized that getting bulky bags of cat litter off the store shelves, into their cars, and up their homes was a struggle for average consumers. By focusing on this one particularly inconvenient aspect of a job, Tidy Cats was able to create LightWeight litter that was 50% lighter than the leading clumping litter.
Reese’s Minis
We’re all familiar with the Reese’s peanut butter cup. By observing customers, Hershey’s was able to uncover that their current products weren’t all that convenient to eat. For one, taking off the wrapper was a two-handed job. In addition, seeing a large remnant of foil wrappers reminded the customer how many Reeses they ate and could induce feelings of guilt for overindulging. Reese’s Minis addressed these concerns — they created a product that left behind no guilt-inducing wrappers and had a resealable bag customers could reach into with one hand. These small changes led to huge success, bringing in $235 million in the first two years of sales.
Both these companies were able to identify a crucial aspect of their customers’ experience that was being poorly performed, and they addressed those specific needs.
How can I apply this to product design?
- For net new experiences, ask yourself: what are users currently doing to achieve this specific job?
- For existing applications, take a look at how they currently use the tool. Note their frustrations. If the tool is not addressing a specific need, what compensations are they making to get the job done?
- As in the case of Reese’s there may be emotional factors that drive certain decisions. Identify those motivators and how the process currently makes a user feel.
- Once identified, these compensations and pain points are opportunities to innovate. When considering a digital solution, think about how you would address those specific concerns.
By addressing areas of improvement in a user’s current process, we posit ourselves as allies that are trying to make it easier for our user’s to reach their goals.
This is article 2 of 6 in the series “Applying Jobs-to-be-Done to Digital Product Design.” Next up, learn how to Identify Focus Markets.
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