Slides presented by Liz Robinson and Carly Eagle at the Cambridge Product Management Network meeting on 31-Jan-2024.

1. Jobs To Be Done
Theory and Practice
Liz Robinson Carly Eagle

2. Theodore Levitt:
People don’t want to
buy a quarter inch
drill. They want a
quarter inch hole.

3. Clayton
Christensen:
People ‘hire’ a
product to get a
‘job’ done.

4. What job was this hired to
do?
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

5. Job = Verb + Object (noun) + Context
• Prepare a hot beverage for consumption
• Get breakfast whilst commuting to work
• Arrive at my destination on time
• Feel proud of my house
• Feel happy at work
• Be perceived as a person with good taste
• Be perceived as an organised person
* A job is stable; it doesn’t change over time or geography and it is solution agnostic

6. Successful innovations help
customers to make the
progress they need to, while
addressing any anxieties or
inertia that might be holding
them back.

7. Anthony Ulwick:
With knowledge of
the customers’
needs, and which
are unmet, a
company can
predict which new
concepts and
offerings will win in
the marketplace.

9. JTBD interviews can help us
discover the jobs people hire
products to solve.
Chris Speik Bob Moesta

10. The Timeline

11. The Forces of Progress

14. Debrief

17. Job statement example
Taken from the interviews
So that’s may be persona or stage
specific and they were identified

19. Sales and marketing

20. Product

21. Thank you
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

22. hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-
customers-jobs-to-be-done
jobs-to-be-done-book.com jobstobedone.org
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