The Innovator's Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth, 2nd Edition

Technique 2

Job Mapping

Determine how customers are getting jobs done.

 

Job mapping is a technique that helps break down the customer Jobs to be Done (JTBD, Technique 1) into eight categories of activities (define, locate, prepare, confirm, execute, monitor, modify, and conclude). We do this to extract associated solution-neutral criteria (Outcome Expectations, Technique 3) that the customer will use to hire a solution. We use the phrase, hire a solution, to shape the mind toward solution indifference; we want to offer whatever solution that gets the job done today with the most value for the provider and customer.

For example, suppose we want to understand the subtle nuances of getting the following JTBD accomplished: Withdraw cash from an ATM associated with your current bank. Imagine that we want to truly understand how customers are getting this job done today and extract their solution-neutral hiring criteria; we would break this JTBD down into its various job steps and then extract the outcome expectations.

The job map is typically used after the JTBD has been scoped to the right level (see Job Scoping, Technique 9). It quickly enables the problem solver to identify opportunities for innovation by extracting the needs associated with each step the customer is trying to get done to achieve the JTBD. This technique is often used in conjunction with Ethnography (Technique 5).

Background

Bettencourt and Ulwick articulated the job mapping concept in a Harvard Business Review ...