Jobs-to-Be-Done: Understand What Customers Really Need | EVUNN
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PROBLEM: I understand my customer's experience, but I don't know what they are really trying to accomplish.
To create a solution people want to pay for, you must know what the people with the problen want to accomplish
Step 4: Jobs-To-Be-Done
Customers don’t always describe the real job or thing they need done.
They may say: I need more clients. But what they may really be trying to accomplish is: I need a reliable way to attract clients without constantly chasing them.
Your job is to look beyond the surface problem and understand the progress they are trying to make.
The EVUNN Mindset Shift
From What They Say → What They’re Trying to Accomplish
Don’t ask: What product or service do they want? Ask: What are they trying to accomplish in their situation?
Your expertise should serve or solve the job they need to get done, not the other way around.
To understand what they are trying to accomplish, use tbis Book. Title: Competing Against Luck
The Big Idea from Competing Against Luck
People don’t simply buy products or services. They hire solutions to help them make progress in a particular situation.
Your customer isn’t necessarily looking for your expertise.
They’re trying to get something done, solve something, or move from one situation to another.
The goal is to uncover the job behind the problem.
What Does This Book Help You Understand?
It helps you identify:
The situation that creates the need for the solutiin you plan to provide
The struggle the customer is experiencing
The progress they want to make
The job they are trying to accomplish
What they currently use instead
Why their current solution may not be enough
What successful progress would look like
This is important because the problem is not always the job.
Should I Read it Now?
YES. Right now, you’ve already explored:
Step 1: What problems might exist?
Step 2: Why might someone want to solve them?
Step 3: What is it like to experience them?
Now we go deeper:
“What are they actually trying to accomplish?”
Which Chapters Matter Most for this Stage of my Journey?
Chapter 1: The Milk Shake Dilemma (Essential)
Understand the core Jobs-to-Be-Done idea through the book’s central example.
Chapter 2: Progress, Not Products (Essential)
Learn to focus on the progress customers seek, rather than the product or service they appear to want.
Chapter 3: Jobs in the Wild (Essential)
See how jobs emerge in real-life situations.
Chapter 4: Job Hunting (Essential)
Learn how to identify the job customers are trying to get done.
Chapter 5: How to Hear What Your Customers Don’t Say (Essential)
Discover how to ook beyond surface-level statements to uncover the deeper job.
Optional: Chapter 6: Building Your Résumé ( Read only if you want to go deeper)
Useful for consolidating the Jobs Theory concepts.
Opyional. Chapter 10 Read only if you want to explore the theory further.
Skip for now: Chapters 7–9 focus more on building and managing jobs-focused organizations.
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Your Step 4 Outcome
By the end of this step (after going though the chapters and implementing with the EVUNN toolkits , you should have:
3 customer job hypotheses
The situation triggering each job or what they want to accomplish
The struggle behind each
The progress the customer wants
The underlying job they are trying to accomplish
Their current solutions or workarounds/alternatives
Why those alternatives may not be enough
A picture of what successful progress looks like for them
These are still hypotheses, not validated jobs.
Knowing your customer has a problem is only the beginning. You also need to understand what they are trying to achieve and why they are looking for a solution in the first place.
Time to Map The Job
Time to Map The JobUnderstanding the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework is only the beginning.
The EVUNN Jobs-to-Be-Done Canvas helps you work through:
Situation → Struggle → Progress → Job → Alternatives → Obstacles → Desired Outcome
Why does this matter?
Because if you understand what your customer is really trying to get done, you can create a solution that actually helps them make progress.
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What Should I Do Next?
You now have hypotheses about:
The problem → the motivation → the experience → the job.
But there’s one major problem:
You are still relying on your own assumptions.
It’s time to talk to real people.
Step 5: Custiner Discovery
The question now changes from: What do I think my customer needs to: what can I learn from real people that proves, or disproves, my assumptions?
That’s where you move from assumption to evidence.
