The Theory of Jobs to Be Done has the power of shifting perspective in the areas of marketing and consumer behaviour, customer choice in particular: it advocates changing the focus of marketers from consumers as targets to what the consumers or customers wish to achieve by ‘hiring’ their companies’ products or services. The Jobs to Be Done Theory (or Theory of Jobs in short) is the central theme in the book “Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice” (2016) authored by Clayton M. Christensen (with three colleagues). Christensen, a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, passed away in late January 2020 at the age of 67.  His book is one of the more illuminating, and nonetheless captivating, books I have read in the field in recent years; this post is written in tribute to Clayton Christensen and his valued contribution to knowledge and practice.

Christensen is probably known better to many engaged in management for his important, foundational work on disruptive innovation: how enterprises with original and ‘unorthodox’ approaches get to disrupt existing markets and unsettle incumbent companies or non-profit organizations. In many cases the new approach may alter the boundaries defining existing markets. Most often the innovation is technology-enabled, yet it is not all about technology but about a divergent and ingenuine way of thinking. The Theory of Jobs is actually aligned with his previous research: giving an innovative, better answer to a job consumers try to complete, where other solutions failed or disappointed, can cause disruption in a respective market.

Consumers have goals they wish to achieve or tasks they aim to accomplish — a ‘job’ is defined by a task or goal set by the consumer in a certain condition. More punctually, the ‘job’ is the progress consumers are making towards accomplishing their task, or getting the job done. It may often be constituted by a problem the consumer wants to solve. Christensen views consumer needs as something too vague and general, not describing closely enough the issue a customer faces and tries to resolve in a given situation. The job, however, is context-specific, described from the viewpoint of the consumer. The job can have functional, social and emotional aspects or drives that may change with circumstances (e.g., is George driving to work or spending time with his children in the mall? — in each case a milkshake can serve a different job, is Jane looking for something to eat in front of her TV or something to prepare for dinner for her family?)

The approach proposed by Christensen is not entirely new — it is inspired by a concept put forward by Theodore Levitt in the 1960s when criticising ‘marketing myopia’ — it is not the product that is of interest to consumers but what they need it for (e.g., solve a problem) or what they want to do with the product (e.g., people are looking for transportation, not necessarily for trains or cars, one does not buy the electric driller but the hole in a wall that can be made with it, for example to install holders for a shelf). In the same spirit, Christensen suggests that consumers do not buy products or services — they ‘hire’ a product or service to get a particular job done. Furthermore, the job does not dictate any specific type of product — a consumer may consider different types of solutions that lead each to hiring possibly a different type of product or service (e.g., taking a bus, riding a scooter, or walking {shoes}). However, Christensen seems to have evolved such ideas into a much more concrete plan for execution, one that goes beyond abstract needs and preferences to realistic tasks and goals, jobs encountered in specific circumstances in people’s everyday lives.

Customers remain central in the marketing strategies, plans and efforts of companies, but the emphasis of planning and analyses should not be put squarely on the customers and their characteristics (e.g., demographics, personality traits, lifestyles, needs, preferences). From the perspective of Jobs to Be Done, too much attention is given by managers to “who” the customer is, or even to “what” the customer did — the theory is focused  primarily on “why” the customer did something. Marketers have to understand much better the jobs that underlie the eventual choices made by customers. Because if  marketers understand why a certain choice was made, what job led to it in order to make progress, then they (and their associates) might be able to invent or develop an alternative solution (product or service) that customers would consider a better answer for that job the next time it arises. To obtain such understanding, Christensen and his colleagues advise that marketers should observe the behaviour of customers carefully and methodically (with aid of video), and listen to them. They propose five essential elements that should be captured in a struggle of a customer to make progress — what progress, circumstances, obstacles, compensating behaviour, and what makes a better “quality” solution.

A state of struggle is a crucial condition for a company to make impact on a customer’s choice– if a customer does not find himself struggling to get a job done, then one has no reason or motivation to replace his current solution, and is not likely to be open to alternative suggestions and offers. When a struggle does happen, a customer may ‘fire’ a product or service currently in use for the job in progress and ‘hire’ another as a solution to get the job done. Customers may be struggling to complete a job when a product they have so far employed turns out to be inadequate (e.g., terms of the job have changed, not necessarily due to the product’s fault) or its performance is disappointing. The theory seems to be concerned more with situations where the customer is not satisfied by the progress made with available solutions known to him or her and is voluntarily looking for alternative solutions. Additionally, customers may be struggling when they face a job for the first time. Whether a consumer is novice or experienced with a certain type of task or job, he or she may expand the range of product types and brands considered until identifying an apparently suitable solution for completing the job successfully (e.g., from the more usual and familiar options to the more novel and exceptional ones). Customers hire products or services, but may also fire others beforehand, and this can work in favour of a company or against it, thus creating threats as well as opportunities.

Christensen offers five ways where to find and uncover opportunities to create innovative solutions for Jobs to Be Done: (1) Finding a job close to home — gaps may arise in the more essential, daily and ordinary activities and tasks performed by consumers; (2) Competing with nothing — consider non-users who so far avoided tackling an issue or goal they have with available solutions because they believe those to be inappropriate or unsuitable for them — addressing ‘non-consumption’ can awake a new market segment; (3) Workarounds and compensating behaviours — when consumers cannot find a satisfying answer with available products or services offered as solutions they try to improvise and ‘invent’ their own solutions with existing means, often not intended for the made-up application — such cases should be identified to create a ‘tailored’ product-solution; (4) Look for what people don’t want to do — identify ‘negative jobs’ that are necessary but are seen as nuisance or burden (e.g., it comes at the worst time) to offer a relieving service that smoothens or reduces the burden of doing the job; (5) Unusual uses — a product that is consistently and constantly used for a purpose other than intended by the manufacturer may suggest a missing solution for an existing but unrecognised job that may now be fulfilled (this route seems close to the third route above). The five ways are briefly summarised here merely to demonstrate the scope of opportunities that Christensen (with his colleagues) opens up to practitioners to take initiative, not to rely on luck, and create innovative solutions that consumers may appreciate and adopt for their jobs.

The book “Competing Against Luck” is abundant with examples of jobs encountered by consumers and actual products and services developed and created to provide useful (working-functional) and fulfilling (social or emotional) solutions for them. The cases described help to illustrate jobs with different goals and in varying circumstances, and also to demonstrate research and enquiry methods for uncovering the jobs and devising solutions. The products and services cover a wide span of areas and domains for the interested readers to discover (e.g., distant online learning, shopping for matrasses, medical guidance and treatment, lodging, savings for children).

• A Nugget for Thought: We could contemplate why men are shaving in different ways in the morning. Is M shaving every morning, every other day, or maybe just on weekends? M may be pressed in time for work and he just wants to keep a clean and decent look hassle-free (no time, no cuts, no mess); he can thus leave more time for other duties in the house before going out. His friend L may be keen about a particular look, an exact shape and cut of beard, that fits his self-image or the image he desires to have in the eyes of others (colleagues, friends etc.). We could also think about men who do not shave: N might grow a constant beard for religious reasons, but he may still wish to appear orderly and respectable, maybe even authoritative. The most suitable solution for the job of M may be an electric shaver whereas L may turn to a manual razor; N may be helped for his job by a set of scissors, a trimmer and a small brush. All three men would probably complete their jobs with some form of lotion or cream for their face (and beard). But are there any new devices, toolsets and services that can be made to help M, L, & N get their jobs done to even higher satisfaction and pleasure?

As an exception, I chose to conclude the post with a citation of Clayton Christensen from the chapter of Final Observations in the book “Competing Against Luck”  (p. 231):

I could go on for hours about how the Theory of Jobs helps us see the world in unique and insightful ways. Good theories are not meant to teach us what to think. Rather, they teach us how to think. I encourage you to continue the conversation from here in your home or your office after you put this book down.

I believe that this wish of late Clayton Christensen deserves to be adhered and fulfilled.

Ron Ventura, Ph.D. (Marketing)

Reference: 

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice; Clayton M. Christensen, with Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan, 2016; Harper Business (Harper Collins Publishers).