A key to surviving disruption is understanding the tasks customers are trying accomplish: they “hire” products to get a job done. Jobs to be done (JTBD) is a growing field of study and increasingly seen as a source for business growth. Luckily, UX strategists have the skills to analyze customer behavior and correlate this to business opportunity using JTBD theory. This allows us to maximize opportunity by finding jobs that are most important to users, but with which they are least satisfied. Focus on delivering value for those jobs first. This talk outlines JTBD theory and practice, and shows its relevance to UX strategy. Through examples, I’ll show how to prioritize efforts in a way that has real impact.

1. UX Strategy & Jobs To Be done
Jim Kalbach
November 2014

2. @JimKalbach
Principal UX Designer Citrix
LIS Degree Rutgers University
#jtbd

3. What is (UX) strategy?

4. “Air Sandwich“
A strategy is a set of hypotheses
about cause and effect….and
can be expressed by a sequence
of if-then statements. ROBERT KAPLAN
& DAVID NORTON
“Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy” 1996

5. “Air Sandwich“
At general management’s core is
strategy: defining a company’s position,
making trade-offs, and forging fit among
activities …Strategy renders choices
about what not to do as important as the
choice about what to do.
MICHAEL PORTER
“What is strategy?” Harvard Business Review, 1996

6. “Air Sandwich“
A good strategy honestly
acknowledges the challenges
being faced and provides an
approach to overcoming them.

8. Ripple Effect

9. Building strategy is a
creative exercise to design
a way of overcoming key
challenges to reach a
desired outcome with an
interlocking set of choices
for consistency in action.

10. Building strategy is a
creative exercise to design
a way of overcoming key
challenges to reach a
desired outcome with an
interlocking set of choices
for consistency in action.

11. Building strategy is a
creative exercise to design
a way of overcoming key
challenges to reach a
desired outcome with an
interlocking set of choices
for consistency in action.

12. Building strategy is a
creative exercise to design
a way of overcoming key
challenges to reach a
desired outcome with an
interlocking set of choices
for consistency in action.

13. Building strategy is a
creative exercise to design
a way of overcoming key
challenges to reach a
desired outcome with an
interlocking set of choices
for consistency in action.

14. “Air Sandwich“
But these choices beget more
choices in the rest of the
organization… Each level in
the organization has its own
strategic choice cascade.

15. UX Strategy
UX strategy helps the business solve
its problems through an interlocking
set of choices that coordinates UX
activity for a desired experience.

16. Elements of Strategy

17. 5 Ps of Strategy
1. Pattern – Trends from the past
2. Position – Desired outcome
3. Perspective – Philosophy of working
4. Ploy – Out-maneuver opposing forces
5. Plan – Course of action

18. 5 Strategy Questions
1. What's your winning aspiration?
2. Where will you play?
3. How will you win?
4. What capabilities are needed?
5. How will you manage strategy?

19. Strategic Questions
LAFLEY & MARTIN MINTZBERG KEY QUESTIONS
Pattern What challenges motivate action?
Aspiration Position What are your aspirations?
Playing field Perspective What will you focus on?
How to win Ploy What are your guiding principles?
Capabilities Plan What types of activities are needed?
Management How will you measure success?

20. www.experiencinginformation.com

21. Einstein Media Co.
Worldwide leader in scientific publishing
ELEMENT BUSINESS STRATEGY
Challenges
Losing customers and revenue due to
disruption and slipping market relevance
Aspiration Reinvent the business to maintain leadership
Focus Areas
• Global
• Research institutions
• Online channels
• Social media
Guiding Principles Leverage scale and authority to win
Activities
• Acquire
• Innovate business model
• Refresh brand
• Build expertise in social
Measurements  Retention  Revenue
EXAMPLE

24. Enable users to
be discoverers
of scientific
breakthroughs

25. End
consumers
Communities,
social
Information
interaction:
finding &
publishing
Enable users to
be discoverers
of scientific
breakthroughs

26. Enable users to
be discoverers
of scientific
breakthroughs
Modular,
ubiquitous,
but familiar
formats
Organize
and design
across
workflows
End
consumers
Communities,
social
Information
interaction:
finding &
publishing

27. Ethnography
Workflow
models,
touchpoint
maps
Guidelines and
governance
Enable users to
be discoverers
of scientific
breakthroughs
Modular,
ubiquitous,
but familiar
formats
Organize
and design
across
workflows
End
consumers
Communities,
social
Information
interaction:
finding &
publishing

28. Ethnography
Workflow
models,
touchpoint
maps
Guidelines and
governance
Enable users to
be discoverers
of scientific
breakthroughs
Modular,
ubiquitous,
but familiar
formats
Organize
and design
across
workflows

Satisfaction
(SUS)
% of UIs that
comply to
guidelines
End
consumers
Communities,
social
Information
interaction:
finding &
publishing

29. How do you know what to focus on?

30. Jobs To Be Done

32. The job, not the customer,
is the fundamental unit of
analysis for a marketer who
hopes to develop products
that customers will buy.
CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN et al.
“Marketing Malpracitce,“ HBR 2005

34. JTBD
1. Understand users
2. Map JTBD
3. Identify opportunities
4. Align efforts

35. 1. Understand Users
39 interviews/observations
68 hours of audio
1,488 pages of text
793,281 words
1,716 descrete tasks

36. 2. Map JTBD
A mental model helps you
visualize how your business
strategy looks compared to the
existing user experience. Thus,
it is a diagram that can support
your experience strategy.
Indi Young, Mental Models. Rosenfeld Media, 2008.

37. Find photos
on computer
Find photos
uploaded
from phone
Upload
photos to edit
online
Find photos
on the go
Search photo
library on
mobile phone
Get photos
from social or
cloud service
Look in
organized file
structure
Dig through
unorganized
photos
Find Photos

38. Find photos
on computer
Find photos
uploaded
from phone
Upload
photos to edit
online
Find photos
on the go
Search photo
library on
mobile phone
Get photos
from social or
cloud service
Look in
organized file
structure
Dig through
unorganized
photos
Goal Space Find Photos
Tower
Tasks

39. Find photos
on computer
Goal Space Find Photos
Find photos
uploaded
from phone
Upload
photos to edit
online
Find photos
on the go
Search photo
library on
mobile phone
Get photos
from social or
cloud service
Look in
organized file
structure
Dig through
unorganized
photos
File Transfer Search
Mobile App
Tower
Tasks
Support

40. 2. Map JTBD

41. 2. Map JTBD
Tasks, towers, goals
=
JTBD
Support
Features
Products
Services

42. Map Future Concepts

43. 3. Identify Opportunites with Customers
TONY ULWICK

44. Importance

45. Satisfaction
Importance

46. Satisfaction
Importance

47. Desired Outcomes Statements
Minimize my effort to find photos on the go

48. Desired Outcomes Statements
Minimize my effort to find photos on the go
Direction
Minimize
Reduce
Maximize
Increase

49. Desired Outcomes Statements
Minimize my effort to find photos on the go
Direction Unit
Minimize
Reduce
Maximize
Increase
Time
Access
Ability
Effort

50. Desired Outcomes Statements
Minimize my effort to find photos on the go
Direction Unit Qualifier or action
Minimize
Reduce
Maximize
Increase
Time
Access
Ability
Effort

51. Desired Outcomes Survey
Minimize my effort to find photos on the go
Very low Very high
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A. How important is this to you?
B. How well is this currently being satisfied?

52. Calculate Opportunity Scores
Importance
9
Satisfaction
3
Satisfaction Gap = 6
Importance + Satisfaction Gap = Opportunity score
9 + 6 = 15

53. 4. Align Efforts

54. 4. Align Efforts
Do 1st
Do 2nd
Do last

55. “It’s great to have this data to help make
informed decisions. I’m looking forward
to incorporating it more and more.”
PRODUCT LEAD

56. “Air Sandwich“
A strategy is a set of hypotheses
about cause and effect….and
can be expressed by a sequence
of if-then statements.
ROBERT KAPLAN
& DAVID NORTON
“Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy” 1996

58. Danke schön
@JimKalbach