About this item
In a challenging economy filled with nimble competitors, no one can afford to stagnate. Yet, innovation is notoriously difficult. Only 1 in 100 new products are successful enough to cover development costs, and even fewer impact a company's growth trajectory. So how do you pinpoint the winning ideas that customers will love? Sifting through purchasing data for clues about what might sell or haphazardly brainstorming ideas are typical strategies. But Jobs to Be Done offers a far more precise and effective approach: determining the drivers of customer behavior--those functional and emotional goals that people want to achieve. Using the Jobs method, it becomes easy to see that people don't really need a 1/4-inch drill bit, but a 1/4-inch hole. They're not just buying ice cream, but also celebration, bonding, and indulgence. This simple shift in perspective opens up new insights about your customers and a wealth of hidden opportunities. Social media newcomer Snapchat, for example, used the Jobs process to capture the millennial demographic. By reducing functionality, the company satisfied its users' unmet need to document real life, in the moment, without filters and "like" buttons. Packed with similar examples from every industry, this complete innovation guide explains both foundational concepts and a detailed action plan developed by innovation expert Stephen Wunker and his team. From unlocking customer insights to ideation to iteration, you'll learn how to: * Figure out what customers really want, even if they can't express it* Sort out valuable insights from less useful customer data * Dig into the underlying "why" of consumer behavior, not just the "what"* Target unaddressed jobs to be done that have the power to disrupt * Identify key customer segments you didn't know existed* Develop solutions that work with ingrained habits, not against them* Use a Jobs-based lens to get a broader view of the competition* Generate better ideas in brainstorming sessions and vet your solutions* Sidestep common mistakes, such as engaging in "feature wars" * Spot emerging trends that are changing how customers will behave* Work customer insights into the design process* And much more Jobs to Be Done gives you a clear-cut framework for thinking about your business, outlines a roadmap for discovering new markets, new products and services, and helps you generate creative opportunities to innovate your way to success.
About the Author
Stephen Wunker has a long track record of creating successful ventures. His accomplishments include:
- Developing dozens of new growth platforms for clients in a decade of consulting to both start-up and large firms across six continents
- Leading the team that created one of the world's first smartphones
- Pioneering both mobile commerce and mobile marketing
In addition to his entrepreneurial and corporate venturing experience, he was a long-term colleague of the leading innovation authority Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in building up his consulting practice, Innosight. He now leads New Markets Advisors, a firm dedicated to empowering companies to innovate and grow. His previous experience includes years with the management consultancy Bain & Company, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Soros Foundations.
He has published widely in journals such as Forbes and Harvard Business Review, and his television appearances include Bloomberg and the BBC. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master's in Public Administration from Columbia University, and a BA cum laude from Princeton University. He has lived in the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Japan, Ecuador, and Zambia, and now resides near Boston.
