How the Jobs to Be Done Framework Transforms Innovation
The jobs to be done framework revolutionizes how companies innovate by focusing on what customers actually need accomplished. Understanding this jobs to be done framework helps organizations move from random innovation attempts to systematic breakthrough solutions that customers genuinely want.
Where Do Good Ideas Come From?
Today we explore where good ideas come from by closing the gap between “trouble as the source” and “good solutions.”
The jobs to be done framework, developed by Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, is a foundational methodology for identifying the situational context where specific solutions are desired and utilized. The jobs to be done framework recognizes the user experience with available solutions as the fertile ground from which new solutions grow.
People are doers. In every facet of life, people are doing things to get specific results and achieve certain outcomes. In every case, people acquire and employ solutions to get a particular job done. These solutions, whether product, service, or process, are characterized by a user experience specific to the situation and solution.
There is an available solution for every job a person wants to do, but no solution is ever perfect. Every solution has some kind of trouble associated with using it. Because of this fact, the user experience can always be improved in some way.
The results derived and outcomes achieved by utilizing an available solution defines the Job-Being-Done. Improving the user experience and reducing the net trouble associated with the current solution is the Job-to-be-Done.
The Milkshake Study: Understanding the Jobs to Be Done Framework
🥤 Clayton Christensen’s famous milkshake study illustrates this framework perfectly. A fast-food chain wanted to increase milkshake sales and asked customers, “How can we improve our milkshakes?” Customers suggested making them thicker, chunkier, and offering more flavors. The chain implemented these changes, but sales didn’t improve.
Christensen’s team took a different approach. They observed what job customers were actually hiring milkshakes to do. They discovered that morning commuters hired milkshakes to make boring commutes more interesting and keep them full until lunch. The milkshake fit in cup holders, lasted the entire drive, and could be consumed one-handed while driving.
The Job-Being-Done was getting through a boring commute without getting hungry. The trouble with alternatives became clear: bananas were gone in three bites; bagels created crumbs and greasy hands; breakfast sandwiches required two hands; donuts caused sugar crashes.
The Job-to-be-Done was creating a convenient, engaging, filling commute companion. Once the chain understood this, they made targeted changes: thicker consistency so they lasted longer, fruit chunks for interest, and front-counter placement with pre-paid cards for faster purchase. Morning milkshake sales increased 7x.
The innovation wasn’t about making “better milkshakes”. It was about doing the job that morning commuters needed doing better than alternatives.
Specifying the Characteristics of a Job
Every job a person seeks to do can be specified using a common framework:
WHO – the person using the solution and expecting the benefit WHAT – the job the user wants done
WHY – the desired results and outcomes WHERE – the location where the solution will be utilized
WHEN – the time and duration of doing the job HOW – the solution of choice to perform the job
HOW OFTEN – the frequency the job will be done
HOW MUCH – the quantity or amount of solution utilized
The job characteristics define the situational context where a solution makes sense. Miss the context, and even “better” solutions fail.
Quantifying the User Experience
The user experience with every solution is a cognitive and emotional reaction to how well a job is being done. User satisfaction or frustration emerges from four key areas:
- Constraints Encountered – Time, performance limitations, availability, accessibility, price, and solution complexity.
- Performance Delivered – Conformance to specification for primary function and secondary features, and ease of use.
- Utility Derived – Reliability, durability, and serviceability.
- Outcomes Achieved – Saving time, money, or effort; providing novelty, assurance, or protection; yielding psychological rewards.
Dissatisfaction with the user experience is the trigger that makes a new solution possible. The probability of a new solution replacing an existing solution depends on the frequency and intensity of dissatisfaction, and the awareness that a new solution can decrease those feelings.
Case Study: Uber’s Understanding of the On-demand Transportation Job
🚗 Uber demonstrates how understanding the complete user experience reveals innovation opportunities. The Job-Being-Done was getting from point A to point B using paid transportation. Taxis had been the solution of choice, but the user experience was fraught with trouble.
Constraints: Hard to find in certain areas and times. Cash-only policies. Opaque pricing. Different systems in every city.
Performance: Poor arrival time predictability. Inconsistent vehicle quality. No feedback mechanism.
Utility: Questionable reliability—sometimes taxis showed up, sometimes they didn’t. No recourse for bad experiences.
Outcomes: Time lost waiting. Stress about arrival. Frustration with no accountability.
The Job-to-be-Done became clear: reliable, predictable, accountable point-to-point transportation. Uber’s solution addressed every trouble point with app-based dispatch, integrated credit cards, transparent pricing, real-time tracking, professional drivers, and a rating system ensuring accountability.
Result: According to SEC filings, Uber grew from zero to 131 million monthly users in 10 years with a market valuation of $140 billion. They didn’t succeed because they invented on-demand transportation. They succeeded because they understood the needs of the job better than incumbents did.
Using Trouble as Your Innovation Compass
Trouble can be an ambiguous concept. In its simplest description, trouble is the source of the cognitive and emotional reaction of “This solution isn’t working for me, and I don’t like it!” The more trouble you experience, the more dissatisfaction you feel.
Trouble comes in many forms:
A breakdown or failure – Solution stops working entirely Too much variance – Unpredictable performance, utility, or outcomes A constraint – Limitations that prevent desired use Unrealized expected benefits – Expected advantages that don’t materialize Unresolved challenges – Persistent difficulties in using the solution Anomalous behavior – Unusual, unexpected, abnormal results An unsatisfying event or paradox – Things difficult to do or understand
Looking for trouble within the boundaries of the Job-Being-Done exposes the limitations, compromises, and difficulties users must tolerate. Any improvement you conceive of making to the job characteristics or user experience becomes the specification for the new Job-to-be-Done.
Case Study: Dollar Shave Club’s Shaving Job Insight
🪒 Dollar Shave Club found trouble in a market everyone thought was optimized. The Job-Being-Done was removing facial hair regularly and effectively. Premium razor systems from Gillette and Schick were the solution of choice, but they carried significant trouble.
The trouble: Replacement cartridges cost $25-35. Razors were locked behind anti-theft cases. Product lines were confusing (Fusion, Mach3, ProGlide). Running out of blades at inconvenient times required special store trips. More “innovation” led to higher prices but the same shaving result.
The Job-to-be-Done: Get consistently good shaves without hassle or excessive cost.
Dollar Shave Club’s solution eliminated each trouble point: simple, quality razors delivered to your door for $1-9 per month, automatic delivery, no store trips, and a clear product line.
The company grew from zero to $240 million in revenue in five years and was acquired by Unilever for $1 billion. They forced Gillette to launch a competing subscription service despite zero technology innovation. The innovation wasn’t better razors—it was eliminating the trouble of buying razors.
Three Paths Forward: Types of Innovation
The new Job-to-be-Done can focus on improving the solution for the existing job, or it can involve inventing a new solution for a different job. This distinction leads to three types of innovation:
Incremental Innovation – Improving an available solution for an existing job through process improvement skills. Toyota’s kaizen approach exemplifies this approach: thousands of small improvements that collectively transformed production efficiency without fundamentally changing the job.
Sustaining Innovation – Significantly enhancing existing solutions for known jobs through product enhancement. Year-over-year iPhone improvements demonstrate this: better cameras, faster processors, improved battery life all serve the same fundamental jobs better.
Radical Innovation – Defining a different job and inventing a novel solution. The original iPhone represents this by combining phone, camera, GPS, music player, and computer into a single device, reimagining multiple jobs simultaneously.
Regardless of whether you target incremental, sustaining, or radical innovation, the jobs to be done framework provides a disciplined approach that makes innovation the norm rather than the exception.
The Jobs to Be Done Framework in Practice: A Five-Step Process
Step 1: Identify the Job-Being-Done
Understand what job the current solution is hired to do. What results and outcomes do users seek? What is the situational context? Don’t assume you know the job based on your product category—dig deeper to understand the actual job from the user’s perspective.
Step 2: Quantify the User Experience
Measure satisfaction and frustration across four dimensions: constraints encountered, performance delivered, utility derived, and outcomes achieved. This reveals where the current solution falls short.
Step 3: Find the Trouble
Systematically look for trouble in all its forms: breakdowns, variance, constraints, unrealized benefits, unresolved challenges, anomalous behavior, and unsatisfying paradoxes.
Step 4: Specify the Job-to-be-Done
Based on the trouble you’ve identified, conceive of changes to the job characteristics or user experience. The specification of these changes becomes your definition of the new Job-to-be-Done.
Step 5: Determine Your Innovation Type
Decide whether to pursue incremental innovation (improve current solution), sustaining innovation (significantly enhance the current solution), or radical innovation (redefine the job with novel solution). Your choice depends on the magnitude of trouble and your organizational capabilities.
Why This Framework Succeeds
The jobs to be done framework succeeds where other innovation approaches fail because it grounds innovation in real user context rather than hypothetical needs. It makes trouble productive by transforming complaints into specifications for improvement. The framework prevents solutions searching for problems by always starting with the job that needs doing.
Perhaps most importantly, it reveals non-obvious competition. Milkshakes compete with bagels and bananas. Uber competes with car ownership. Dollar Shave Club competes with the hassle of shopping. Understanding the real job reveals the real competition and the real opportunity.
The framework creates measurable improvement because specific trouble points become clear success metrics. When you know exactly what trouble you’re eliminating, you can measure whether your solution actually reduces that trouble.
Clayton Christensen’s framework provides the discipline that makes innovation systematic rather than random, repeatable rather than lucky, and predictable rather than mysterious.
Conclusion
Where do good ideas come from? They come from understanding the jobs people are trying to do and the trouble they experience doing those jobs with current solutions.
By distinguishing between the Job-Being-Done and the Job-to-be-Done, specifying job characteristics completely, quantifying user experience across four dimensions, finding trouble in its many forms, and choosing the appropriate type of innovation, organizations can dramatically improve their innovation success rates.
The companies that win—Uber, Slack, Dollar Shave Club, and countless others—don’t have better ideas than their competitors. They have better understanding of the jobs customers need done and the trouble preventing those jobs from delivering high levels of user satisfaction. They apply the jobs to be done framework systematically to bridge the gap between customer trouble and breakthrough solutions.
Regardless of whether you target incremental, sustaining, or radical innovation, the jobs to be done framework provides the disciplined approach that makes innovation the norm in your organization.
💭 What jobs are your customers hiring your products to do? And what trouble are they experiencing that you haven’t addressed yet?
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