Customer's Job

What is it?

Harvard Business School Professor and best-selling author Clayton Christensen popularized a very helpful method of identifying customers’ real needs/wants that has come to be known as the “Jobs-to-be-Done” framework.

Rather than focusing your creative efforts on designing a better product, ask yourself what the customer is actually trying to do. I.e, what is their job-to-be-done? For example, rather than trying to design a better drill bit, consider what the customer is actually trying to do (e.g. hang a picture) and you may come up with a very different solution to their problem such as this “monkey hook” that doesn’t even require a drill bit.

Note that a customer’s “job-to-be-done” can be anything: taking out the garbage, buying a house, running payroll, entertaining the kids, have a relaxing weekend. Given the limitless scope of these “jobs,” some have found it helpful to further categorize the various types of jobs and how they interrelate. If you would like to explore this topic further, here is an in-depth article you may want to check out.