Jobs to Be Done

Theory to Practice

By: Anthony W. Ulwick

Narrated by: Tom Askin

Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Why do so many innovation projects fail? What are the root causes of failure? How can they be avoided?

Since 1991, Tony Ulwick has pioneered an innovation process that answers these questions. In 1999, Tony introduced Clayton Christensen to the idea that "people have underlying needs or processes in their lives, that they are addressing in some way right now" - an insight that was to become the Jobs-to-Be-Done theory.

For 26 years, Ulwick and his company Strategyn have helped over 400 companies put Jobs-to-Be-Done Theory into practice, with a success rate of 86 percent, a five-fold improvement.

You will learn:

• Why companies fail at innovation and how to avoid critical mistakes
• How to employ the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework to categorize, define, capture, and prioritize customer needs, including the following: the core functional job-to-be-done and desired outcomes, related jobs, emotional and social jobs, consumption chain jobs, and financially desired outcomes.
• A Jobs-to-be-Done growth strategy matrix to categorize, understand, and employ five growth strategies: differentiated, dominant, disruptive, discrete, and sustaining
• Outcome-based segmentation
• Outcome-driven innovation - the tested innovation process that ties customer-defined metrics to the customer's job to be done
• The language of Jobs-to-Be-Done - the syntax and lexicon of innovation

I call him the Deming of Innovation because, more than anyone else, Tony has turned innovation into a science," says the father of modern marketing, Philip Kotler, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

©2016 Anthony W. Ulwick (P)2020 Anthony W. Ulwick

So many ah-ha’s, absolutely worth my time invested

So to use the author’s narrative, what job was this book getting done? I would say that it was to give us the 30,000 ft view of how to approach developing and marketing products.

I have been involved in a lot of startups , and I wish I had had this info before we got going. I can see how by asking that one crucial question… what job is the customer trying to get done, is so important. It is what the core premise of any business trying to make an impact,should be. That one question of course is extremely nuanced, and requires a lot of frameworks to get to the answer.

Will this book give you that? No. There were some negative reviews saying it was one long infomercial for Tony’s course, but as a life long entrepreneur with huge teams, I have never once expected to get the silver bullet with only a few hours invested. That’s not possible.

What I really appreciated about the book was how it opened up a mindset and approach to looking at the customer needs, drilling down and going with the data, and building on that.

Again, will this book give you the frameworks. No. And why would it? That information could be priceless to some entrepreneurs. And certainly worth hiring an expert to get you to the point of understanding how to get your business on track to making the impact you are looking for.

This book was very informative and I highly recommend it as part of a required reading list for any entrepreneur with an idea they want to turn into a business.

Practical and effective

Tony provides us with one of the best product strategy books that I have read in a while. The methodology is straightforward, feasible, and outcome-oriented if you follow the high-level steps outlined in this book.

Outcome Driven Innovation Changes the Game

My experience at multiple large companies over the past decade has astonished me. Despite being surrounded by the brightest people in the world, and despite enormous success validated by market capitalization and revenues, even the best-built companies do not have a process for innovation. Even less, customer-focused innovation. Tony’s work has been transformational for me as a Customer Insights professional to bring rigorous, data-backed customer voice to my stakeholders. Additionally, being able to “speak the language of the customer” has been invaluable in crafting winning ideas. I can’t recommend Tony or his team enough, and this book will give you a primer on his compelling - and highly applicable - approach to innovation.

Very good framework to solve problems

Tried and true way to better understand opportunities within your customer segment. Explains methods to create outcomes and drive actions.

An introduction

The book provides introduction to an important concept: “job to be done”. But then reads through as cheerleading for mysterious consulting or paid class work. I bought the book to get into the meat and learn, and I didn’t find much here to eat. It is really impossible to determine the authenticity of the case studies and/or what was the substantial variability in possible actions and outcomes. Written for people that dance along the surface of life.

Direct Execution Guide to Theory of Disruption

I have read all Christensen's work, I have even took his classes at HBS online. So, I understand his theory very well.
I must say the framework in this book puts everything in perspective, building on (or maybe was the source of) the theory of disruption, but also incorporating other important theories of strategy into one framework. I have read many many many book on strategy each advocating for a certain framework. I feel this is the most straight forward, the simplest, and most importantly the most effective.
with that said, if you want to master strategy, you must understand all the main theories of strategy not limited to the theory of disruption

Reads like one long infomercial

The book reads like one long infomercial of ODI and the company who implements it.

Mostly markets the company's course

Mostly markets the company's online course rather than actually teaching how to apply the ideas in practice.

Skip It!

Just one big advertisement for his course or to hire his company.

This book can be summarized by the following

"I'm Tony Ulwick, I'm the greatest and smartest man that has ever lived!"

Don't waste your time, get Clay Christensen or Alex Osterwalder book instead.

This book is just an outline of a method, that is common sense, there is no meat or details.

Focus on the customer's needs ... DUH!!

good practice poor book

while the practice and high level concepts are very good the book does not do a very good job helping you in start following the practice.

additional I will add that it targets companies of size 10.000+ employees which I think is more this book then the concept.

overall of you are less then 1000 employees find an different book