Core Focus: What Job Are You Doing?

Companies must continually ask themselves, 'Are we in the steam locomotive business, or in the transportation business?' Companies do not last forever. As a matter of fact, over the last 35 years, no technology company has maintained prosperity the entire time. This is shorter than the average time a person will be employed.

So with behemoths like Kodak dying off year by year, how can a company maintain long-lasting prosperity? We will explore "Jobs To Be Done" - a framework that asks the question of what job consumers "hire" products to solve.

The most famous example of the application of this framework is a fast food restaurant's attempt to improve sales of milk shakes. At first, they tried to improve the product through customer segmentation. What they learned though is that customers were "hiring" milkshakes as a breakfast alternative that entertains during the morning commute. By better understanding, and addressing this job, they were able to gain share against their real competitors: boredom and bagels.

This presentation will be an interactive discussion, including workshop elements and take aways on how to better evaluate the job to be done.