The Core Tenets of Jobs-to-be-Done Theory

Jobs-to-be-Done Theory is comprised of a group of principles or tenets that explain how to make marketing more effective and innovation more predictable by focusing on the customer's job-to-be-done. The core principles and tenets behind Jobs-to-be-Done Theory detail a sound and proven theory because they are based on evidence, verification, and repeated testing by the Strategyn team over a 26-year period. Using ODI, the theory was applied over 1000 times in applications such as: (i) product, software, service and operational innovation, (ii) product improvement and new product creation, (iii) business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications, and (iv) in over 30 industry verticals. Consequently, when companies apply Jobs Theory to better inform their strategy, marketing, innovation, development and M&A initiatives, they can confidently use these Jobs-to-be-Done Theory tenets as the building blocks for predictable growth: 1. People buy products and services to get a "job" done. 2. Jobs are functional, with emotional and social components. 3. A Job-to-be-Done is stable over time. 4. A Job-to-be-Done is solution agnostic. 5. Success comes from making the "job", rather than the product or the customer, the unit of analysis. 6. A deep understanding of the customer's "job" makes marketing more effective and innovation far more predictable. 7. People want products and services that will help them get a job done better and/or more cheaply 8. People seek out products and services that enable them to get the entire job done on a single platform 9. Innovation becomes predictable when "needs" are defined as the metrics customers use to measure success when getting the job done

Strategyn, a consulting firm founded by Tony Ulwick, is the pioneer of Jobs-to-be-Done Theory and creator of Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI). The article discusses the core tenets of Jobs-to-be-Done Theory developed and refined by Strategyn over 26 years.