The new world of the digital age, more globalized and more virtual, is marked by an intensification of multidirectional information flows and by its perishability. What is trending today may not be tomorrow. With this ebullition of thoughts and innovations, we have become accustomed to the fact that new ideas are replacing old paradigms, and this can be clearly observed in the marketing and operations management of companies.
The job to be done (JTBD) concept is proof of this. This theory was developed by Professor Clayton Christensen, from Harvard Business School, author of the books The Innovator's Dilemma e The Innovator's Solution and also creator of the theory of Disruptive Innovation.
The job-to-be-done theory is based on the idea that people do not buy products, but “hire” them to perform a task. The job to be done is not a specific product, service or solution, but a greater purpose for which customers buy products and services.
“We hire products to do Jobs for us” (Christensen, Clayton)
The role of companies, therefore, would not be to sell products and services to customers, but rather to help them solve their tasks, jobs, desires, desires and desires. Therefore, identifying and understanding the “jobs” that people are wanting to do in their lives, for which they would “hire” products and services, is the key to solving the problem of motivating consumers to buy what the company offers.
“Don't sell products and services to customers, but rather try to help people address their jobs to be done” (Christensen, Clayton)
At first glance, this idea seems simple, but it has profound implications for corporate marketing, especially in the way companies conceive and make their products available. Today, companies design their products by asking customers what they want. But as paradoxical as it sounds, this is the wrong way to start. Most of the time, the consumer will answer this question based on what the market already offers and what already exists today.
In the words of Henry Ford himself, if he had asked people what they wanted, he would probably have heard a faster horse. Instead, it takes a deeper look to examine people's more hidden needs, the real jobs to be done. Deep down, people didn't want to solve the “increase the horse's speed” problem, but rather solve the “commuting time” problem, so the “car” solution helped people to address this task. The same can be said about the invention of the light bulb: people weren't looking to solve the problem "life of kerosene in lamps", but "lighting".
“Understanding the job makes improvement simple” (Christensen, Clayton)
Job to be done can be treated not only as a concept, but even as a tool in the way of approaching the resolution of the customers' real problems. Instead of looking only at what is sold and what people buy, solutions must be sought for problems that arise during people's day-to-day lives. It is the change from the old paradigm of the buying and selling mechanism, whose logic was “I sell what I do”, to a new orientation focused on “I am at the customer's service, what does he essentially need? ”.
Notably, this new concept brings with it an increase in complexity in the development of the offer of products and services, as it is based on more subjective issues. However, its foundations have proven, in the course of history, a solid basis for innovations.
In the past, we've seen many products and services emerge from innovations at the core of people's Jobs to be done. Sometimes, even the creation of these products caused the process of creative destruction (SCHUMPETER, 1942): new products and services emerged to meet consumer demands and ended up occupying the space of other products and services that formerly met these demands.
Even in relatively mature and consolidated markets, this maxim is true. ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart and even Apple have found opportunities to expand their markets, which were once seen as static. Steve Jobs didn't ask users what cell phone device they wanted, but he realized that mobile devices were a great opportunity to address many people's jobs to be done, and brought with it all the innovations contained in the iPhone (making Apple occupy space that belonged to other companies, such as Nokia).
Conclusion
Finally, as already demonstrated, when people think they have a job to be done, they “hire” products or services to carry out the task. This means that companies need to understand which “jobs” arise in people's lives so that their products can be “hired”.
According to Christensen, when observing the way in which companies have designed their products and services to be "hired", it is noted that most of the "goals" in the history of marketing were made by companies and people who managed to see the world from a job-to-be-done perspective. The “own goals” of marketing history, by contrast, are usually the result of an excessive concentration on developing products with better features and functionality, or even trying to decipher what the average customer in a certain segment wants.
One of the great challenges for Marketing teams when designing new products, therefore, is that continuous improvement, which is incremental, does not inhibit disruptive innovation, which really transforms the market.
References
CHRISTENSEN, Clayton, and Laura Day. Integrating Around the Job to Be Done. Harvard Business School Module Note 611-004, August 2010.
CHRISTENSEN, Clayton M. The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997.
CHRISTENSEN, Clayton M., and Michael E. Raynor. The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003.
SCHUMPETER, Joseph, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1942).
<http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/finding-the-right-job-for-your-product/>
<https://strategyn.com/customer-centered-innovation-map/>
<http://projetodraft.com/verbete-draft-o-que-e-job-to-be-done/>
<https://blog.intercom.io/using-job-stories-design-features-ui-ux/>
