Jobs to be Done

By Jim Elliott
May 4, 2021

Jobs to be Done (JTBD) theory is a powerful way of thinking that can help us understand customers and markets.  I first learned about JTBD by reading books and articles by the late, highly esteemed Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School.

Prof. Christensen popularized the idea of Jobs to be Done, which says that the customer is the wrong unit of analysis; more powerful insights can be found by examining the job that the customer is trying to accomplish.  That’s why people with the same demographic profiles will exhibit different buying behavior.  The behavior is driven by what those people want to do.

I recently watched an outstanding recorded webinar, “How to define your market using Jobs-to-be-Done.” https://strategyn.com/webinar-define-your-market-using-jtbd/  This was presented by Tony Ulwick, Founder of Strategyn, who introduced the concept to Prof. Christensen. Strategyn.com includes a lot of valuable information: JTBD Theory, JTBD Framework, JTBD Examples, and JTBD Playbook.

So, what does this have to do with our business?  A friend of mine, who is President and CEO of a famous legacy company, engaged Strategyn to help create a strategy to transform that company into a successful digital company.  He reports that the strategy is highly effective, and he gives a lot of credit for their current success to Jobs to be Done theory and Strategyn.