Jobs-to-be-Done Radio

This week we'll give you a glimpse into what went on at the Switch Workshop that was held at the 37signals office in Chicago on October 1st. We're joined by Nick Owsley, the co-founder of PromoSimple, who shares his thoughts about being an attendee, and the steps that he's taken to understand the jobs that his product does since he left the event. Nick joined 23 other attendees (mostly entrepreneurs, start-up founders, and product/marketing individuals in the software and technology space) at 37signals to spend a day learning about one of the fundamental premises of Jobs-to-be-Done:  People don't just buy or start using your product.  They stop doing one thing, and start doing something else. Using that premise as a starting point, the attendees at the workshop were exposed to the way that we conduct consumer interviews at Re-Wired, in an attempt to uncover the progress that a consumer is trying to make when they hire a product or service.  After watching a number of off-the-cuff live interviews (people that we picked out of the audience), the attendees spent time learning more about the details of the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework, and then broke into groups to conduct interviews of their own. In this episode, Nick talks us through the experience of conducting his first JTBD interview with a customer and gives his candid review of the Switch Workshop. Listen to the Show   Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes!

This week we continue to share audio of a recent trip to Boston to visit Clayton Christensen. Clay shares the story of when Andy Groves of Intel asked him to explain how disruption would affect his company.  He reinforces for us … Read More

This week we continue to share audio of a recent trip to Boston to visit Clayton Christensen. Clay shares the story of when Andy Groves of Intel asked him to explain how disruption would affect his company.  He reinforces for us the concept that when applying a framework such as Jobs-to-be-Done, it's always important to show people how to think, not what to think. A framework such as Jobs-to-be-Done should give you a common language and a common way to frame the problem so that you can reach consensus around a counter-intuitive course of action. This week we also say farewell to Tom McBrien, the 2012 Summer Intern at the Re-Wired Group.  Tom walks us through his experience at Re-Wired, including his take on how Jobs-to-be-Done helped him understand the importance of causality, how it prompted him to think hard about the job that he was hiring college for, and how it eventually prompted him reconsider his major at the University of Michigan. Listen to the Show Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes!

This week Bob and Chris are honored to be joined by Clayton Christensen  on Jobs-to-be-Done Radio.  Clay discusses why he thinks the JTBD framework is so important and talks through how it is used to understand causality and what drives consumer … Read More

This week we continue to share audio of a recent trip to Boston to visit Clayton Christensen. Clay shares the story of when Andy Groves of Intel asked him to explain how disruption would affect his company.  He reinforces for us the concept that when applying a framework such as Jobs-to-be-Done, it's always important to show people how to think, not what to think. A framework such as Jobs-to-be-Done should give you a common language and a common way to frame the problem so that you can reach consensus around a counter-intuitive course of action. This week we also say farewell to Tom McBrien, the 2012 Summer Intern at the Re-Wired Group.  Tom walks us through his experience at Re-Wired, including his take on how Jobs-to-be-Done helped him understand the importance of causality, how it prompted him to think hard about the job that he was hiring college for, and how it eventually prompted him reconsider his major at the University of Michigan. Listen to the Show   Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes!

  This week presented a great opportunity to bring some special guests to the Jobs-to-be-Done Radio Show. Bob and Chris are joined by John Palmer, who worked with Bob in the early 90s to create the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework, as well as Bob Barrett and Ervin Fowlkes who are colleagues at The Re-Wired Group. In the middle of an intense two-day working session focused on identifying the Jobs-to-be-Done in some specific situations for two of our clients, we decided to take a break from the work and discuss summarizing a job-to-be-done in 140 characters or less. In an earlier Twitter exchange on the #JTBD hashtag, Chris took the stance that distilling Jobs down to short phrases and sentences would risk losing the essence of the Job.  Listen to the show to hear John Palmer how it is possible, and necessary to explain Jobs succinctly using images or icons. Listen to the Show Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! Coming Up Next Week We'll unpack some of the interviews that we have conducted in the building space to gain an understanding of how demand dimensions are identified.

  This week presented a great opportunity to bring some special guests to the Jobs-to-be-Done Radio Show. Bob and Chris are joined by John Palmer, who worked with Bob in the early 90s to create the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework, as well … Read More

This week presented a great opportunity to bring some special guests to the Jobs-to-be-Done Radio Show. Bob and Chris are joined by John Palmer, who worked with Bob in the early 90s to create the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework, as well as Bob Barrett and Ervin Fowlkes who are colleagues at The Re-Wired Group. In the middle of an intense two-day working session focused on identifying the Jobs-to-be-Done in some specific situations for two of our clients, we decided to take a break from the work and discuss summarizing a job-to-be-done in 140 characters or less. In an earlier Twitter exchange on the #JTBD hashtag, Chris took the stance that distilling Jobs down to short phrases and sentences would risk losing the essence of the Job.  Listen to the show to hear John Palmer how it is possible, and necessary to explain Jobs succinctly using images or icons. Listen to the Show   Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! Coming Up Next Week We'll unpack some of the interviews that we have conducted in the building space to gain an understanding of how demand dimensions are identified.

  This week's show features guest Stephen Mohan, Managing Director of Operational Services of Cofunds.  Stephen joins us to talk about financial services through the lens of Jobs-to-be-Done. We contrast how the financial planner's view of the competitive set (retirement plans, mutual funds, stocks) differs from the competitive set that consumers construct (buy what I want now and go into debt, keep my money as cash to avoid risk, do nothing).  The discussion then moves into the solution space, and we talk about a few methods that financial planners could use to match their offering to what consumers are looking for in order to draw more people into the market. Listen to the Show Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! Coming Up Next Week We'll discuss Facebook's new Facebook Camera offering and how they've leveraged the Instagram offering; Instagram for Video, and Social TV.

  This week’s show features guest Stephen Mohan, Managing Director of Operational Services of Cofunds.  Stephen joins us to talk about financial services through the lens of Jobs-to-be-Done. We contrast how the financial planner’s view of the competitive set (retirement … Read More

This week's show features guest Stephen Mohan, Managing Director of Operational Services of Cofunds.  Stephen joins us to talk about financial services through the lens of Jobs-to-be-Done. We contrast how the financial planner's view of the competitive set (retirement plans, mutual funds, stocks) differs from the competitive set that consumers construct (buy what I want now and go into debt, keep my money as cash to avoid risk, do nothing).  The discussion then moves into the solution space, and we talk about a few methods that financial planners could use to match their offering to what consumers are looking for in order to draw more people into the market. Listen to the Show   Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! Coming Up Next Week We'll discuss Facebook's new Facebook Camera offering and how they've leveraged the Instagram offering; Instagram for Video, and Social TV.

This week's show starts out with a discussion around the swell of recent media that the Jobs-to-be-Done framework has received.  We discuss the recent jobs-to-be-done Forbes article, as well as Clay's guest appearance on the Critical Path radio show. We also begin to explore the concept of engagement in the shopping process.  We attempt compare and contrast the shopping behaviors of consumers as they purchase various products with seemingly low engagement (margarin, laundry detergent) with their behaviors as they purchase products with high engagement (homes, cars). Finally, we hand out our first ever Jobs-to-be-Done Award to this week's winner, Hello Fax.  Listen in to hear about how the leadership team at Hello Fax has managed to zero in on a key job-to-be-done that exists in the document faxing market. Listen to the Show Subscribe Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! Coming Up Next Week We'll continue our discussion on engagement, evaluate the pressure that Instagram is experiencing to move into the video space, and talk about Bob's recent trip to France and the conversations he had around JTBD in the financial space.

This week’s show starts out with a discussion around the swell of recent media that the Jobs-to-be-Done framework has received.  We discuss the recent jobs-to-be-done Forbes article, as well as Clay’s guest appearance on the Critical Path radio show. We … Read More

This week's show starts out with a discussion around the swell of recent media that the Jobs-to-be-Done framework has received.  We discuss the recent jobs-to-be-done Forbes article, as well as Clay's guest appearance on the Critical Path radio show. We also begin to explore the concept of engagement in the shopping process.  We attempt compare and contrast the shopping behaviors of consumers as they purchase various products with seemingly low engagement (margarin, laundry detergent) with their behaviors as they purchase products with high engagement (homes, cars). Finally, we hand out our first ever Jobs-to-be-Done Award to this week's winner, Hello Fax.  Listen in to hear about how the leadership team at Hello Fax has managed to zero in on a key job-to-be-done that exists in the document faxing market. Listen to the Show Leave us your feedback and let us know what you think about the show! Coming Up Next Week We'll continue our discussion on engagement, evaluate the pressure that Instagram is experiencing to move into the video space, and talk about Bob's recent trip to France and the conversations he had around JTBD in the financial space. Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes!

Is education really a "job" if the student is forced or prompted to consume it in the way that we've designed it?    There are a lot of great start-ups in the education space that are attempting to answer this question as they roll new products out into the market. How can start-ups in the education vertical apply the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework to their products if the student's consideration set is pre-determined for them?  Should we focus on the teacher's jobs, the student's jobs, the administrator's jobs? This week we unpack each of these questions and discuss how JTBD can be applied in education. Listen to the Show Coming Up Next Week Next week we'll dive back into the tools and tactics of JTBD, and discuss interview tips, and the creation of the timeline. Make sure you don't miss upcoming episodes!  Subscribe to Jobs-To-Be-Done Radio using this feed. iTunes/iPhone users can new subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes! In Case You Like Reading More Than Listening Hey, this is Doug Crets. We're talking again on Jobs-to-be-Done Radio. We're here with Chris and Bob. It's been another week. Thank you, guys, for joining us. Good to see you guys here again. Today, my thoughts are I wondered if Bob could right my ship here and tell me if I'm on the right track or if I'm on the wrong track. I was thinking education and I was thinking about how education in the public school system K-12 is like an obligatory forced product. I was wondering, could you even use Jobs-to-be-Done theory to think about education since kids are required to go to school. They are required to learn. How do you do Jobs-to-be-Done theory if the product isn't in a choice set? It's more, "This is what you have to do. You have to go to school every day and get it done"? Is that something off limits for Jobs-to-be-Done or am I thinking about Jobs-to-be-Done in the wrong way? Bob:                          No. The thing is, as much as you can say education is obligatory there are many choices that the kids have to make along the way. The fundamental premise of Jobs is that people want to make progress. Kids want to make progress. Kids want to get through school to get to college or to get into a job. It depends on their definition of "progress" and what they choose to engage with to help them make progress. So in some cases it's not that they are buying it and using money, but they are spending their time on it. Spending time can be seen as part of the equivalent. The other thing is there is a notion of consumption. The kids have to learn how to consume the education to demonstrate new behavior so they can get on to the next class or get on to the next college or get on to the next job. We've actually done some work in that area. Looking at how kids, for example, consume education and what teachers can do. If you think of the student as the consumer... Doug:                       Right. Bob:                          ...and it's the teachers' job and school's job to help the students make progress and consume. You'll find that one thing that is most interesting, most people talk about education as having a motivation problem. We interviewed 9th and 10th graders. Everything from kids who had good grades to, I'll say, medium grades, to bad grades, to kids who have dropped out. They were 11th graders and they dropped out. What you found was that they had all hired education to make progress. At some point, the kids who dropped out, I interviewed a couple of kids from a gang. What you found is that they felt they could make more progress in the gang than they could school. I don't believe there's a fundamental motivation problem. I think there is a blockage problem. I don't think the kids can consume what were giving them. Doug:                       So wait. We've got in 2010 I think there were 6.2 million, or something like,