The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework)

Listen to this episode from Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career on Spotify. Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments — Bob Moesta is the co-creator of the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework, a close collaborator of Clay Christensen, and CEO and founder of The Re-Wired Group. He has helped launch more than 3,500 new products, services, and businesses and built and sold several startups himself. He is also a fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute and a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Entrepreneurship, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. In this episode, we discuss: • What Snickers and Milky Way can teach us about JTBD • The various flavors of the JTBD framework • Best practices for implementing the framework • Advice on conducting interviews for B2B vs. B2C customers • Common mistakes people make when implementing JTBD • When not to use it — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta — Where to find Bob Moesta: • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/bmoesta • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/ • Website: http://www.therewiredgroup.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Bob’s background (04:04) A simple explanation of the Jobs To Be Done framework (07:29) Struggling moments and demand (09:51) Understanding the context behind pain points (11:14) Reducing friction in the sales process (14:46) How Autobooks improved their buying process and 4x’ed conversion (16:52) The six phases of the buying process (18:30) The JTBD interview process (21:55) How Bob’s TBI affected his reading/writing and how he is able to write books (22:02) Why people switch companies (27:18) Tips for JTBD interviewing (30:07) Why you should not have a discussion guide (32:48) The danger of looking at the customer through the product (33:53) First steps in applying the JTBD framework (36:25) Signs people are ready for a change (37:43) Bob’s “layers of language” (40:15) Examples of companies with a broad adoption of JTBD (43:59) The different flavors of JTBD and common mistakes to avoid when implementing it (48:19) Bob’s work with Clay Christensen on JTBD theory (51:05) When not to use JTBD (53:40) Common misconceptions about the framework (55:55) What compelled Bob to spend so much of his life on JTBD (58:07) Three big takeaways (59:07) Lightning round — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.