The job to be done
Ask not just what a product or service is, but what else it is
Consider an Aston Martin. What job does it do? What is its purpose? The most immediate answer that springs to mind is that it offers a sporty yet luxurious drive from A to B.
Is this the purpose for which customers buy Aston Martins cars?
No.
Customers buy Aston Martin cars as necessarily expensive social signals to indicate that, despite being late-middle aged and balding, they in fact might secretly be international men of mystery. The job to be done is contained not in what the car is, but rather what else it is.
The late, great Clayton Christensen is globally known for encapsulating the concept of disruption in business in his magnum opus, “The Innovator’s Dilemma”. However, he also penned the somewhat less famous “Competing Against Luck”, which includes this idea of a job to be done - which Christensen insists customers hire products [or services] for. The use of the verb hire was of course quite deliberate - stressing that customers’ faith is ephemeral, dependent on how well deep and often unstated needs are met.
If you’re an emerging leader managing a product or service, the question “what else is it?” is a powerful one, after you’ve flushed out the obvious purpose. Social factors play a much greater role in our everyday decision making than economists acknowledge. We are not rational agents in the neoclassic sense, taking optimum decisions based on objective information. We care what others think and our feelings matter.
It is tempting to try to understand the enigma of what else it is by asking people why they want (or need) a product or service. This is a mistake. Though consumers may not be rational, none of us like to appear irrational. A ‘why’ question forces us to justify our choice and, in so doing, unconsciously search out plausible sounding reasons. The truth may well be hidden from ourselves.
Why did you buy that Aston Martin?…
… will reveal what it is, not what else it is.
A deeper level of curiosity is needed, usually involving observing behaviours. One of my all time favourite quotes is from advertising guru David Ogilvy in his book “Confessions of an Advertising Man”:
People don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say.
Asking people directly - even without the use of the interrogative ‘why’ - can fail to elicit the truth because of inherent and unavoidable emotional and cognitive biases.
Whilst it’s possible to have an unexpected hit and an unpredicted failure, generally speaking, successful products and services are managed by leaders who do know what else it is. Aston Martin’s long standing brand association with James Bond is no accident.
Even if what you are managing is rather more mundane than 007’s gadget strewn casino ride, you should dedicate time and effort into properly understanding what the job to be done is and therefore what customers are looking to hire. It is easy to make false assumptions that make sense to you as the producer but bear little or no relationship with the reality of the consumer. It is in these gaps that business risk lies.
So, ask not just what a product or service is, but what else it is.