With a hammer, look at everything like a nail. The JTBD theory mentioned in the article is a good hammer, as long as we adhere to the user-centric and use the JTBD way of thinking, we will definitely be able to create excellent products.
I remember when I first stepped into the product manager industry, I was full of enthusiasm to create amazing products and become a great product manager like Steve Jobs. But the reality gave me a big blow, the product proposal was always not recognized, and every review made me feel frustrated and lost, and even began to doubt whether I was really suitable for this career.
Leaders always take electric drills as an example, when customers buy electric drills, their real purpose is not just to own a drill, but to drill a hole in the wall, and then hang a photo to create a more welcoming family environment. But I think that making a good product is not to design an electric drill that is easy to use and can be used by everyone? I couldn't always understand what the leader meant.
Just when I was at a low point, my leader recommended a book that introduced me to JTBD (Jobs to Be Done) theory. This theory is like a beacon that illuminates my path to innovation. I realized that the key to product innovation is to deeply understand the real needs of users, and create real solutions to solve problems based on users' pain points and expectations.
With JTBD's guidance, I revisited my product solutions and thought about how to create value for users from their perspective. I work closely with my team members to iterate and optimize our products using the JTBD mindset. Gradually, our solutions began to be recognized, and I regained my confidence and enthusiasm for the profession, and now I am an excellent product manager and a core member of the company's products.
The JTBD theory has not only changed the way I work, but also my way of thinking. It made me understand that innovation is not just a figment of imagination, but needs to be rooted in the real needs of users. It has taught me to listen to my users, to put myself in their shoes, and to understand their pain points and expectations with empathy.
Now, I see JTBD as a tool for innovation, constantly learning and practicing, and exploring the infinite possibilities of product innovation with the team. I believe that as long as we adhere to the user-centric approach and apply the JTBD way of thinking, we will be able to create excellent products.
The JTBD theory was proposed by Clayton Christensen, and its core concept is the "backlog theory", which is especially important for product innovation to understand in depth. The theory emphasizes that consumers are motivated to buy products and services not just to own these items, but to use them to accomplish a specific task or achieve certain goals.
In our daily work, we often only stay at the level of satisfying the surface needs of customers, and ignore the importance of digging out the real needs behind them. This superficial solution is difficult to fundamentally meet the needs of users, and it is difficult to achieve effective conversion between different users. Therefore, we should shift the focus from the product itself to the understanding of the deeper motivations behind user behavior in the innovation process. Only when we truly understand the deeper reasons behind users choosing a product or service can we help them complete their "to-do" tasks more effectively, and such innovations are more likely to succeed.
01 What is a to-do task?
The Tasks to Be Done (JTBD), which stands for "Jobs to be Done", was proposed by Clayton Christensen at the beginning of the 21st century.
It is a customer-centric approach to understanding why people buy products and services.
The core idea is that consumers buy and use products or services in order to complete a specific task or achieve a specific goal, and it is the purpose and process of people to achieve an unfinished event based on environmental and emotional factors.
1. JTBD emphasizes that users are required to complete certain tasks (Jobs)
JTBD emphasizes that users buy products to complete certain tasks (Jobs), whether there are people you have to complete or not, which is manifested as follows:
1. "Jobs" is a deeper user demand and a source of product innovation;
2. The product/solution will change, but "Jobs" will not change;
3. Based on "Jobs" analysis rather than specific products;
4. Upgrade users, not your products.
2. How to-do tasks differ from requirements
When it comes to product innovation and meeting customer needs, we often hear two terms: JTBD (Backlog) and traditional requirements. While they share certain similarities, there are actually some key differences in their definition and understanding. Let's explain in detail the difference between JTBD and traditional requirements.
Traditional demand is often based on the consumer's superficial requirements and expectations for a product or service. These requirements usually involve the function, performance, appearance, price, etc. of the product. Traditional requirements can be obtained through surveys, market research, and customer feedback, among other things, to help product managers understand what customers want and how to improve the product to meet those needs.
The concept of JTBD is more in-depth and comprehensive. JTBD focuses on the real challenges and expectations that customers face when completing tasks or reaching goals. It focuses on the underlying motivation of why a customer is buying a product or seeking a specific solution. Unlike traditional requirements, JTBD focuses more on understanding the real reasons behind customer behavior.
3. To-dos: Gain insight into real-life examples
The To Do Task (JTBD) theory not only reveals the core needs of people's lives, but also leads us to insight into the real motivations hidden behind the trivial things of daily life. Guided by this theory, we are able to transcend the boundaries of traditional market segmentation and deeply explore the choices that users make to accomplish a task in a given context.
Let's take daily eating as an example, which is a seemingly simple but complex to-do task. People may be looking for a healthy way to eat, a quick dining experience in their busy lives, or a delicious treat for a special occasion. Behind these different choices, there is a unique understanding and expectation of users for the to-do task of eating.
Instant noodles, for example, occupied many scenes of people's eating and drinking for many years. However, with the change of times and the rise of food delivery services, instant noodles are gradually being replaced by healthier, more convenient, and more delicious food. This shift is not accidental, but stems from a profound change in the user's demand for the to-do task of eating. They are no longer satisfied with simple fast food solutions, but are looking for a more diverse and personalized eating experience. Instead of other types of convenience foods, instant noodles are replaced by takeout services that offer healthier, more convenient, and tastier options.
02 Although innovation is difficult, there is a law to follow
Innovation is a difficult thing, and with the Task Theory (JTBD), there is a law to follow, and with the help of the Theory of Task to Do, we can guide us to innovate effectively.
1. Correct insight into user needs: user goal theory
When we usually talk about "user demand insight", you may think, for example, if I make coffee, then I should think about what kind of needs users have for coffee; I make candy, so I think about what kind of product needs users have when they eat candy; I sell socks, so I think about what users need when they buy socks. We often think about our users' needs based on our products, but no.
Users may not buy our products based on the needs of the products. The underlying logic of the user's real purchase is to solve a core task or goal encountered in his life. With this foundation, it is the underlying logic of the correct insight into user needs, that is, the user goal theory provides us with the direction.
2. Do these two steps to get to know your users better
In our daily work, we hold a hammer in our hands, and we see everything as nails. We sell clothes and lipsticks because we think that users are based on the needs of clothes and lipsticks, no. We need to push the demand for this product forward by at least "two steps".
In the first step, we first examine what kind of scenario or life the user is facing, and what kind of final task goal the user faces.
In the second step, we will examine what kind of products or categories the user needs to hire in such a scenario in order to complete his mission goals. In such a scenario, users will have demand for our products, and may also have demand for other products, and even cross-category demand. Some brands can meet the needs of users, and some brands can't meet the needs of users, then it may become an obstacle to user needs. As a brand that wants to innovate, we must find a solution that can meet the product needs and optimization of users to achieve the ultimate goal in this scenario.
It can be combined with 5W1H analysis, 5W2H analysis, Y model analysis, etc. for in-depth thinking, to understand the real goal behind the user, in order to have a deeper understanding of the user.
Here's a very simple example. Have you ever ordered takeout? When you're in a hurry to order takeout, don't you think about it, or just eat instant noodles? Then let me ask you, is instant noodles the same category as Meituan takeaway or Ele.me takeaway? No, one is the industrial industry and the other is the Internet industry. Why is it that for users, two different industries meet the same mission goal? This is worth pondering.
3. The five-step method of applying the user goal theory is applied
The first step is to see what the user's final mission goal is.
In the second step, we look at the scenarios in which the user has such a final task goal.
Step 3 What are the needs of users, especially the needs of categories and products.
Fourth, when the user meets the demand, there will definitely be some obstacles, what are his obstacles.
The fifth step is what is the best or better solution we can provide?
For example, they carefully depicted the user characteristics of typical milkshake consumers, conducted a lot of corresponding user surveys, and made many innovations based on user feedback, repeatedly adjusting the taste and sales strategy of milkshakes. The result? Milkshake sales have not changed at all. Everyone was stunned.
In the end, the marketing team decided to look at the issue through the lens of a backlog. They found that there are two peak hours for milkshake sales: one is before 9 a.m., when customers are generally alone, hurriedly entering the store to buy a milkshake and bring it back to the car, without buying other food; Another time is after work in the afternoon, when many parents bring their children to buy. Think about it, do customers who buy milkshakes during these two time periods have the same to-do tasks? Completely different.
Customers who buy milkshakes in the morning are not too hungry, but they have to drive a long time to work, and they are expected to be hungry when they arrive at the company, so they want to drink something while driving, on the one hand, to add some fun to the boring commute time, and on the other hand, to resist the hunger in the morning. It's their to-do, and the shake is the way to go. So what about the customers who buy milkshakes after work in the afternoon? They want to buy snacks for their children, and at the same time they don't want to buy junk food.
Obviously, if you want to sell more milkshakes, you need to help these two customer groups complete their to-do tasks: for the morning shakes, they should be thicker and more generous, so that people who drive to work can enjoy them slowly on the road and still carry their hunger; For evening shakes, a special children's cup should be introduced, the portion size should be halved, and health should be emphasized, so as not to affect the children's dinner at night.
The most interesting thing about this case is that it is likely that the same customers come to buy the milkshake in the morning and evening, but the to-do tasks they want to solve in the two sessions are different, and the milkshakes served should be different. This fully confirms Christensen's judgment that finding solutions based on so-called user characteristics is often ineffective, and the really useful information is the real motivation behind the user's purchase behavior, that is, the user's to-do task.
At the heart of the to-do theory is to understand the real motivations behind users' purchasing behaviors. Correlation derived from big data does not tell why users make the choice they do, and it is difficult to point the way for innovation. Only by figuring out the user's specific to-do task and helping the user to better complete this task can it be possible to improve the success rate of innovation.
03 Exploration of innovation paths: five ways to explore new user needs
With the help of Backlog Tasks (JTBD), we have a way to innovate, so how can we explore the new needs of users, we can dig deeper from the following five methods.
1. Observe user needs from life
We should capture user needs through observations in daily life. It's important not to confine yourself to the four walls of an office and try to guess what users might need. It's important to move away from thinking around the product and the brand's own perspective, and instead go deep into the daily lives of users to directly explore the solutions they seek and the product categories they tend to adopt.
It's important to recognize that understanding users isn't simply imposing ideas in our brains on them. Users have their own unique purchasing behaviors and cognitive logics. If we just imagine it in the office, it is difficult to grasp the real needs of users. Encourage people to get out of the office and observe the actual needs of users in their lives and find the solutions they are looking forward to.
Take Pizza Hut's takeaway and dine-in services as an example, although they are pizzas of the same brand and the same name, in reality, they are managed by two different people. Why is that? Because despite the same name, they actually provide users with different product experiences. This stems from different consumption scenarios: food delivery services need to take into account the stability and delicacy of the pizza during transportation, ensuring that it is still fresh and hot when it arrives in the hands of the user. Dine-in service, on the other hand, focuses on the visual presentation of the pizza at the moment it is served at the table, requiring the pizza to look flawless and appealing. So, even though the two services offer the same kind of pizza, the experience of the product in the hands of the user is very different. This is a smart product management based on a deep understanding of the unique needs of users in different scenarios.
2. Look for user needs from barriers that have not yet consumed or are unwilling to consume
Finding opportunities for disruptive innovation often requires starting with barriers that consumers haven't embraced or aren't willing to accept. There may already be certain products on the market, but consumers may not be keen on them. This is not entirely because the product itself does not have a demand, but perhaps because the product does not fully take into account the user's ultimate task and goal in a particular scenario, which leads to consumer resistance to such products.
Take Kimberly-Clark's adult diapers as an example, which is designed to solve the problem of urine leakage in adults. But its initial design was extremely embarrassing for buyers at checkout, as it was clearly identified as an adult product, making it instantly recognizable. Few people want to be open about the embarrassment of leaking urine, so sales of Kimberly-Clark's first adult diapers have been very sluggish. However, they did not give up.
The demand for diapers among adults actually exists, especially considering that there are many patients who leak urine, including the elderly, who may face this problem. So what changes has Kimberly-Clark taken? First of all, they re-examined the real needs of users when buying diapers: that is, "buy decently, use decently". This meant designing a product that was not easily recognizable as an adult diaper at a glance. In this way, even if the buyer meets an acquaintance at the checkout, the fact that they are buying adult diapers will not be immediately exposed.
Through this disruptive innovation, Kimberly-Clark relaunched an optimized product that resulted in great market success and won the Global Innovation Award. This example clearly shows that by understanding and respecting the privacy needs of users, even products that address sensitive issues can gain market recognition and success.
3. Think about and optimize fungibility solutions
We need to observe and identify products that users are not satisfied with and find alternative solutions. The task is to find temporary workarounds and explore and provide users with better options. We see an opportunity when we see that a user is using some kind of workaround or imperfect workaround: it gives us the possibility to optimize those workarounds.
For example, in the winter on the streets, we often see people riding electric bikes wearing something like cotton gloves or cotton coats on the handlebars to keep warm. This observation has led to the emergence of specialized products on the market that address this need. Whenever the cold season comes, we can see that electric vehicles are generally equipped with similar wind and cold protection devices.
For those who specialize in selling cold-proof clothing, they may be accustomed to promoting down jackets and padded clothing, but often ignore the special needs of users in the cycling scene. Cyclists are concerned with simply staying warm and protected from cold winds while on the move, rather than the aesthetics and fashion of clothing. Therefore, for users in this particular scenario, practicality is the primary consideration. This is where we can step in and create better solutions, where we can design products that are both practical and optimized to meet the real needs of users in this particular scenario.
4. Focus on what users don't want to do
Pay close attention to what you and your users don't want to do. Whether you're innovating in product development or marketing strategy, the key is to dig deeper into user resistance. Many times, the user's resistance does not mean a lack of demand, but rather some unresolved obstacle in the pursuit of its ultimate goal. Our mission is to help our users clear these barriers.
In the case of the "One Minute Clinic" launched in the United States, this innovative concept is based on the personal experience of the founder, who was reluctant to go to the hospital because of the inconvenience of taking time off work and the frustration of the complicated process of seeing a doctor. He is well aware that for many parents, the time-consuming and cumbersome process of bringing their children to the hospital is a big burden. It was out of a keen insight into this daily inconvenience and personal dissatisfaction that he founded this quick clinic. "One Minute Clinic" is committed to solving the medical inconvenience that consumers do not want to face in their daily lives, and it optimizes the medical experience of users by providing fast and convenient services.
5. Observe unusual usage
Being mindful of the non-traditional way users use your product often means innovative uses that we haven't found available. The exploration of these unique uses can lead to new product development and sales opportunities.
For example, a pharmaceutical company has developed a calcium supplement for young women. One day, they were surprised to find many posts on Xiaohongshu where users discussed that this calcium supplement also had the effect of removing acne. The company was surprised by this, as they had never considered that the product would be used in this way. However, users are already using this method and are starting to actively promote the acne effect of this calcium tablet, spontaneously bringing traffic to the product. If the pharmaceutical company is willing to cater to this user demand, it is likely to successfully transform this calcium supplement into an acne product.
04 Summary
At the heart of the to-do theory is to understand the real motivations behind users' purchase behaviors, and the correlation derived from big data alone cannot see why users make such choices, and it is difficult to point the way for innovation. Only by figuring out the user's specific to-do task and helping the user to better complete this task can it be possible to improve the success rate of innovation.
Figuring out what your users have to do is critical to understanding who your real competitors are. Sometimes, for the same to-do task, there are multiple completely different categories of products competing across borders; There are also times when companies can leave their competitors aside and find a blue ocean on their own; On top of that, companies have to deal with a more insidious and harder competitor, which is not to consume.
Innovation should shift from product-centric to task-centric. The product-centric theory of innovation is like a geocentric model, which seems to have a certain effect, but it is essentially wrong. It is necessary to revise the cognitive model and shift from product-centric to task-centric innovation, so that it is possible to get rid of the innovative way of hitting the big luck and truly improve the success rate of innovation.
Finally, one more thing to add.
Task-focused innovation sounds easy, but it can be done off the beaten track. Enterprises often start with a task-centric approach to product design, and once a mature product development and sales system is established, the company's focus will unconsciously shift from tasks to products, ignoring the need to continuously follow up on the development and changes of user to-do tasks. This is the root cause of many successful and innovative companies that fail later. Therefore, on the road of innovation, it is necessary to constantly return to the task-centric perspective and closely follow the new needs, new changes and new trends of user to-do tasks in order to accurately grasp the direction of innovation.
If you're also a product manager, try to understand JTBD theory. It may be like a beacon that lights up my path to innovation, bringing new turns and inspiration to your career. Let's use the power of JTBD to create excellent products that truly meet the needs of users!
This article was written by Everyone is a Product Manager Author [Simple Youdao], WeChat public account: [Simple Youdao], original / authorized Published in Everyone is a product manager, without permission, it is forbidden to reprint.
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