What Is, and Is Not, Your Product's Job-Nir&Far

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews, and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode, and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

What is and is not your product's job? By nearandfar.com written by Nir Eal recently, my mom came for a visit. She read my blog and discovered her son has a crazy habit of running barefoot. After some convincing, she begrudgingly accepted my rationale, especially after I showed her that a nice Jewish professor at Harvard said it's okay. But on one morning as I was about to walk out the door, my mom stopped me with a tight grab to the arm reminiscent of my childhood. It's bad enough you run outside with bare feet, but you look ridiculous running with these cheap schmat gloves. She always had an eye for spotting the quality of apparel, and she correctly identified my Walmart Bargain Bin gloves, which I bought for $2 per dozen. Why are you wearing these things? She exclaimed. You must be cold. Let me get you a nice pair of warmer gloves. You're cold, right? Is that the reason? No, I said. It's not. She tried again. It must be a fashion thing then. The kids are not wearing shoes on their feet, but they're wearing gloves on their hands. This time she was sure she'd deduced the reason. So at least let me buy you some nice quality gloves from Bergdorf. You want to be in with the times. I get it. Is that the reason you wear gloves when you run? No, I said. It's not. I know it must be to hold your key so you can get back in the house after you run, she said with a worried expression. Don't worry, I'll be here to let you in. But while you're gone, I'll sew you a little pocket inside your gloves to hold your key. The reason you run with gloves is to hold your key, right? This time she took her conclusion as fact and held out her hand, expecting me to turn over the gloves. No, mom, it's snot, I said. I run with these gloves because of the snot.

She looked at me perplexed and disgusted. When I run in cool weather, my nose drips and I use these cheap gloves so I don't have to wipe my nose on my hands or carry a handkerchief. Realization began to sink in. When I get home, I can just throw them in the hamper and use a clean pair the next time I run. After a pause, she said approvingly, that's a smart boy chick. Always keep your nose clean. Now run along.

The Job to Be Done Clayton Christensen says people don't just buy products and services, they hire them for a job to be done. In this case, I hired my gloves for very specialized, non obvious and yes, kind of gross job. But it demonstrates a point Startups seize opportunities big companies can't act upon because they see the world through the jobs to be done lens, Christensen says most organizations are already organized around product categories or customer categories, and therefore people only see opportunities within this little frame that they've stuck you in, he continues, there are a lot of people who hire consultants to tell them how big the market is, and because the data is organized in the wrong way, you start to believe that's how the market should be organized. When you see innovation through the confines of current solutions for predefined customers, innovation grinds to a halt. But thank goodness big companies are so bad at innovation. If they were any good at it, where would startups be? It took outsiders like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Zynga to disrupt industries because big companies only saw the current customer segments, not the job that could be done for new potential customers. The first step in the art of building a company is understanding customer motivation. Unless you deeply understand the job your customer is hiring your product to do, you may be surprised to learn what is and is snot the reason to buy your products.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question. The formal review for the podcast on itunes.