the jobs to be done framework helps create products that consumers want why is jobs to be done important the framework helps you capture and categorize your customers wants and needs so once you're able to understand your customers needs you can understand what needs aren't being met and what solutions should be built to respond to those needs in summary it helps you drive value for your customers it can be tempting to ask your customers directly what do you want don't do it customers don't always know what they want a great quote from henry ford reinforces this
point he said if i'd asked people what they wanted they'd asked me for faster horses the problem is that ford's customers were looking for solutions in the context of the current technology when speaking to your customers it's important to ask the right questions this is where having a jobs to be done mindset comes into play let's dive into the jobs to be done framework an easy way to think about the jobs to be done framework is that you're focusing on what job the customer is trying to accomplish the jobs to be done theory states that
consumers hire a product to do a job that they need to get done consumers often have multiple jobs they're trying to accomplish when they're buying a product or a service let's use a simple example buying a car cars have features such as leather seats cruise control carplay and touch screen navigation it's important to remember that those are not jobs they're merely features consider them bells and whistles that make the experience great to identify the jobs to be done think what drives people to buy a car typically to help them safely and reliably commute to their
home and to their office that is a very practical job to be done jobs to be done can be social and emotional take buying a tesla for example a social job could be i want to show my friends and family that i love technology and progress an emotional job could be i want to show my friends and family that i'm on the cutting edge of technology and i want to positively contribute to climate change some people may buy a luxury car because they want to feel special drive more comfortably or in some cases impress their
friends again those are jobs consumers hire companies like tesla ford and bmw to fulfill those jobs now you may be thinking how do i identify my customers jobs to be done conducting customer interviews can help with this instead of asking customers directly what do you want under the jobs to be done framework you should ask customers questions like what are you ultimately trying to get done or accomplish what is the final output you're seeking what were you doing the last time you bought a car what were the reasons you bought that car once you've conducted
your customer interviews it's important to write up each of the jobs to be done in a clear and concise way so you can share that internally within your organization uncovering the customer's jobs builds empathy with a customer and great products are built with empathy each customer group or persona is going to have a different job to accomplish when they're purchasing a product once you understand the jobs that your customers are looking to accomplish you can build products that fulfill those jobs think about how great it would be to have a car sales person speak to
the job you're looking to accomplish rather than focusing all of their time on the specific car features sure features are important but they aren't the reason you're buying the car after all the car performs multiple jobs each customer who walks into the car dealership has different jobs to be done and the salesperson's responsibility is to uncover that job and speak to how the car can help the customer accomplish that job in summary when your company is looking to innovate it's tempting to say we want to use ai or we want to build a self-driving car
instead think about what problems customers are currently facing and get out there and talk to those customers this way you'll want to work backwards to see if those solutions fulfill your customers needs thanks for watching subscribe to the playbook ux channel for more on product and ux
