Jobs to Be Done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation

In a challenging economy filled with nimble competitors, no one can afford to stagnate. Yet, innovation is notoriously difficult. Only 1 in 100 new products are successful enough to cover development costs, and even fewer impact a company's growth trajectory. So how do you pinpoint the winning ideas that customers will love?

Sifting through purchasing data for clues about what might sell or haphazardly brainstorming ideas are typical strategies. But Jobs to Be Done offers a far more precise and effective approach: determining the drivers of customer behavior--those functional and emotional goals that people want to achieve. Using the Jobs method, it becomes easy to see that people don't really need a 1/4-inch drill bit, but a 1/4-inch hole. They're not just buying ice cream, but also celebration, bonding, and indulgence.

This simple shift in perspective opens up new insights about your customers and a wealth of hidden opportunities. Social media newcomer Snapchat, for example, used the Jobs process to capture the millennial demographic. By reducing functionality, the company satisfied its users' unmet need to document real life, in the moment, without filters and "like" buttons.

Packed with similar examples from every industry, this complete innovation guide explains both foundational concepts and a detailed action plan developed by innovation expert Stephen Wunker and his team. From unlocking customer insights to ideation to iteration, you'll learn how to:

• Figure out what customers really want, even if they can't express it
• Sort out valuable insights from less useful customer data
• Dig into the underlying "why" of consumer behavior, not just the "what"
• Target unaddressed jobs to be done that have the power to disrupt
• Identify key customer segments you didn't know existed
• Develop solutions that work with ingrained habits, not against them
• Use a Jobs-based lens to get a broader view of the competition
• Generate better ideas in brainstorming sessions and vet your solutions
• Sidestep common mistakes, such as engaging in "feature wars"
• Spot emerging trends that are changing how customers will behave
• Work customer insights into the design process
• And much more

Jobs to Be Done gives you a clear-cut framework for thinking about your business, outlines a roadmap for discovering new markets, new products and services, and helps you generate creative opportunities to innovate your way to success.

About the Author

STEPHEN WUNKER worked with Christensen for years, led development of one of the first smartphones, and now runs New Markets Advisors. He has written for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Financial Times.

JESSICA WATTMAN is the consultancy's Director of Social Innovation, and DAVID FARBER is a Manager at the Boston-based firm.

DAVID FARBER is a Manager at the Boston-based firm.