BUSM4369 Accounting Business Design Project 1
TOPIC 3: Understanding The User_Empathise and
Define
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DESIGN THINKING MODEL – RECAP
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Empathise and Define
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• Empathise and Define are the first two phases in our Design Thinking
model. We looked at Framing in week 2 as one way of thinking about
understanding the working principle of a service and the value that the
user derives from that service. This week we use other design tools to
think about both empathise and define.
• Need to understand how the user derives or aspires to derive value
from an artefact , system or process.
• Value is derived when the solution solves the problem. This requires
the user to perform a task or interacts with a system or process. Value
can be positive (increase) or negative (eliminate).
• Understanding the task(s) that need to be performed by the user to
derive value can be gained through research, including observation.
WHAT
???
(a product,service
system)
HOW
???
(workingprinciple)
VALUE
= (aspiretoto sell/create)
+
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ETHNOGRAPHY
(Silverstein, Samuel & DeCarlo, The Innovators Toolkit, 2nd ed. 2012)
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• Observing how customers try to get their jobs done.
• Primary task is to observe and take notes on how people
interact with or when acquiring a product or service and
what they think about it.
• We will consider Interviewing as a supporting task when
we look at the Test phase of our model.
• As we shall see, understanding the job to be done is
important in understanding the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘value’.
• This concept is at the heart of the design thinking
process
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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
(Silverstein, Samuel & DeCarlo, The Innovators Toolkit, 2nd ed. 2012)
• The concept of JTBD is not a product, service or a specific solution; it’s
the higher purpose for which customers buy products, services and
solutions (or for which management adopts processes or systems).
• If an innovator or designer understands the jobs that customers want
done, he/she will gain new insights for market opportunities. Example:
Why buy a lawnmower? Normal response: ‘to cut grass’. But the higher
purpose is ‘keep the grass low and beautiful at all times’. Solution:
develop a genetically engineered grass seed that never needs to be cut,
or develop synthetic grass.
BREAKDOWN OF JTBD
• Two levels of JTBDs:
–1. Main jobs to be done – i.e. tasks customers want to achieve
–2. Related jobs to be done – i.e. what else customers want to
accomplish in conjunction with the main JTBD.
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JTBD
Functional job aspects – the practical and objective customer
requirements
–Emotional job aspects – the subjective customer requirements related to
feelings and perceptions
Where emotional job aspects are broken into:
–a personal dimension (how the customer feels about the
solution)
–a social dimension (how the customer believes he or she is
perceived by others while using the solution).
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JTBD – Creating Job Statement
Job Statement describes a JTBD
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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) (cont.)
Last week we came up with the Problem Statement:
Contract cheating impairs the University’s reputation which results in lower
enrolments and graduate employability. Our solution would be to eliminate contract
cheating by requiring students to comply with University assessment policies.
The JTBD Statement can be stated for example:
Eliminate contract cheating at University
Verb Object Context
The JTBD statement is derived from and links to the Problem Statement. If the
Problem Statement is not clearly expressed, the JTBD statement may be
difficult to articulate.
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JTBD – Related JTBD
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– see ‘cleaning teeth’ example in reading Jobs to be Done (Silverstein
et al., 2012 )
– Main jtbd: Clean (verb) teeth and gums (object(s)) anytime (context)
– Related jtbd: Whiten teeth anytime + Freshen breath anytime +
Protect teeth and gums against decay anytime
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JTBD – Related JTBD
The better a solution can fulfill all of these
job levels and layers, the better chance it
has in the marketplace. Also, the better
the solution either achieves or nicely
dovetails with related JTBDs, the better
chance of success it has. In short, the JTBD
concept is a guide for thinking beyond to
make your current solutions, and your
competitors’ solutions, obsolete
Main jtbd – Functional aspects: Remove food
particles from teeth
Related jtbd – Functional aspects: whiten teeth
+ prevent tooth decay + fresh breath
Personal dimension: feel good, feel clean, feel
confident
Social dimension: helps to be perceived as
someone who has good oral hygiene (clean
teeth, fresh breath, healthy gums)
maintains healthy gums; fresh
breath; cavities; enamel; fights
plaque; stains; great taste;
fights bad breath bacteria
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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
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STEPS
1. Identify a Focus Market.
– Core growth (meeting unmet outcome expectations)
– Could focus more on emotional than functional aspects to gain a competitive
advantage
– Related job growth (bundling solutions that achieve the outcome expectations
of more than one main or related JTBD – e.g. Starbucks)
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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
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STEPS continued
2. Identify Jobs Customers are Trying to Get Done
–This involves studying customers and the way they use
solutions to get their jobs done. Use ethnographical research
which includes observations, interviews, focus groups.
3. Categorize the JTBD
–Consider main and related jobs.
–In non-customer-facing jobs (e.g., management), the
functional rather than the emotional aspects are more
important. In customer-facing jobs (e.g., retailing) the emotional
(what people feel) is more important than the functional aspects.
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Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
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4. Create Job Statements
–A job statement is used to describe a JTBD. Key components of a
job statement are an action verb, object of action, and contextual
clarifier.
– Example: see Exhibit 1.3 on p.10.
5. Prioritize the JTBD Opportunities
– Prioritizing JTBDs is a function of:
– how important they are,
– how satisfied customers are with existing solutions
– the potential for developing new (or more ideal) solutions
– the specific potential of the provider to create new solutions.
– A rating scheme can determine how JTBDs should be prioritised
for innovation. It can survey customers (or managers) to plot their
satisfaction against importance for each perceived JTBD
opportunity.
– See Exhibit 1.4 on p.11.
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Importance of JTBD
• Important that job statement is clear and reflects what needs to be
done to find a solution to the problem.
• Job statement is reflected in the Project Charter or Project
Summary which summarises the project to stakeholders and
prospective investors.
• The job statement needs to link to the problem statement. These two
statements underpin the Business Case of the project.