Stephen Wunker - Jobs to Be Done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation

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What sets Jobs to be Done apart is that it effectively bridges the gap between customer insights and strategy. The book is filled with techniques and examples that show you not only how to bolster what you know about your customers, but also how to transform that knowledge into a concrete plan for winning in the market.

Jon Duke, director, corporate strategy, PetSmart

Jobs to be Done gives you a refreshingly straightforward means to uncover hidden customer needs, including ones that customers would struggle to tell you about on their own.

Vijay Krish, general manager, Internet of Things, Cisco

What I love about Jobs to be Done is that it goes well beyond the product. It lays out how you can use the data and knowledge you have about customers to rethink your ways of doing business and delivering value.

Brian Newman, executive vice president, global operations, PepsiCo

Consumers cant always tell you what will make their lives better, so you need to look deeply and thoroughly for insight. Jobs to be Done is a lens to understand how to innovate in a way that will capture consumer demand. All companies, regardless of size, can use the Jobs to be Done approach to create products that get the job done so much better for consumers that they cant wait to fire their old solutions.

Stacy Maher Ball, director of Consumer Insights and Innovation Center of Excellence, Clorox

In my own startups and the large customers we support, I have seen innovators re-discover the core jobs of the innovation process through painstaking trial and errorbecause they didnt have this book. Jobs to be Done is a must-have for anyone pushing the envelope or breaking the mold. Successful innovation never happens in a vacuum. Jobs to be Done joins the ranks of IDEOs rules of brainstorming and Agiles user stories by laying out the patterns and channels of invention. Its the kind of book you leave on your desk so you can keep coming back to it.

John Frank, founder and CEO, Diffeo

I love this book and I love that its referred to as a roadmap. That is exactly what this book delivers. This would be useful for any company looking for growth through innovation.

Lisa Michaelis, chief life care officer, Mosaic Healthcare

Jobs to be Done is a must read for entrepreneurs. It gives you a practical, validated system to come up with new ideas or test out the ones youve already thought of.

Nathan Eagle, founder and CEO, Jana

Jobs to Be Done gives us a process that has been proven across industries, including life sciences, for re-thinking the status quo and creating transformative initiatives.

Dr. Oliver Reuss, head of business model and healthcare innovation, Boehringer Ingelheim

Companies too often forget to ask: What is the question that were trying to answer? Great process around that questionof Jobs to be Doneenables repeatable innovation, and a consistently modern approach to developing client solutions. This book is a definitive guide to operationalize focused, creative thinking that produces outstanding results for clients, and for the companies that help them to succeed.

Jeanette Gorgas, chief strategy officer, Grant Thornton LLP

JOBS TO BE
DONE

STEPHEN WUNKER JESSICA WATTMAN DAVID FARBER

A ROADMAP
FOR CUSTOMER-CENTERED
INNOVATION

Any acknowledgments for a book on Jobs to be Done must lead off with a salute to Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen. Clay first popularized the idea in his 2003 book The Innovators Solution, and he continues to write and speak to make this thinking well known. He mentored me at a crucial time in my career, and I was proud to work with him for six years at the consulting firm he cofounded, Innosight. My former Innosight colleague Scott Anthony also influenced my thinking, and I fondly remember our first project using Jobs to be Done to shape the specifications for a new mobile device. The road we set out on back then culminated in the Jobs Atlas that underlies this book. I also learned about the best ways to apply Jobs thinking from several clients and colleagues along the way, including Deborah Arcoleo at Hershey, Paul Conrad at Zimmer, Ken Dobler at Ethicon, Jon Duke at PetSmart, Nate Hill at Nestl, Rajit Kamal at DePuy Synthes, Peter Lach at Barclays, Carla ODell at APQC, and Dan Sondee at Ingersoll Rand. We interviewed many practitioners about their experiences, and we owe many insights to Stephen Brickley, Darren Coleman, Christine Dahm, Brendan McSheffrey, Pramod Mohanlal, Hari Nair, and Trang Nguyen. Naturally, my colleagues at New Markets Advisors have been critical contributors of thoughts, examples, and critiques. Additionally, Alex Edwards provided the brilliant drawings, and both Anil Glen and Liza Swartz contributed many of the graphics. Finally, my coauthors provided so much to this book that I couldnt possibly list the contributions. Thank you simply cant express the gratitude I feel.

Stephen Wunker

Thanks and appreciation are due to many who helped make this book possible. Im thoroughly grateful for the support and encouragement received from each and every one. My colleagues at New Markets deserve particular recognition for putting into practice many of the ideas and strategies covered in this book. Their critical insights into what works and what doesnt challenged us to refine our model and improve our ideas. The quality of this book is testament to their excellence. Further thanks go to Pramod Mohanlal, managing director of Yowzit. A true believer in the Jobs to Be Done thinking, Pramod gave us the chance to use the method to build a social enterprise in South Africa. There is no stronger litmus test of an approach than to use it yourself. Having done so, I am convinced of the utility of the Jobs to be Done lens for driving public sector innovation. Lastly, appreciation, recognition, and tremendous thanks are owed to Stephen and David. Their relentless pursuit of great ideas, enthusiasm for getting the details right, and willingness to be challenged have made writing this book a true pleasure. They are wonderful colleagues and great friends.

Jessica Wattman

I owe an enormous amount of thanks to the many individuals who have helped shape and create this book. While there are countless people whose help and support I truly appreciate, space allows me to call out but a few by name. Several people have been quite influential in shaping the way I write. In particular, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Lawrie Bertram, whose advice I refer to daily. I also need to thank Lynn Addington and Karen OConnor. Their own accomplishments and publishing successes are truly inspiring. More importantly, their mentorship has been more valuable than they know. Their respective guidance in helping me craft my capstone and produce a full-length documentary has given me a set of skills that I will never stop relying on.