One of the definitions of quality that Dr. Deming left with us begins, "A product or service possesses quality if it helps somebody." Job-to-be-done (JTBD) theory fulfills the gap that gets created when we ask, "How can we ensure our product or service is helping?"
In the IQI Academy, we help people practice application of JTBD theory with a Chain-of-Customers exercise adapted from Brian Joiner. [Me -> Direct customer of my outputs -> Direct customers' customer -> and so on.] Almost no one who attempts to complete the 5-position exercise form can do so without needing to interview people in their chain-of-customers.
Dr. Deming described a system of production this way, "“Everybody at work in any pursuit, any endeavor, be it building, education, Post Office, transportation, manufacturing, service of any kind, has a customer. Somebody takes their work and does something with it. There is a chain of production.”
When we realize that is it the next person or department who must do something with our outputs and that they also have a "next person" by whom their output is being put to use, we begin to see that each person in the chain has a unique Job-to-be-Done.
If we want to "help somebody" with our work, we can do so by learning to better address each Job-to-be-Done in our personal and organizational Chains of Customers.
I've been reading Dr. Deming book on the New Economics. Another common mistake that Dr. Deming points out is management demands for pushing out sheer quantity and record volumes of sales, production, work quotas etc. etc. that only makes things worse. Rather than focusing on sheer quantity, management should be continuously building quality, as quality is what leads to increasing growth.
One of the definitions of quality that Dr. Deming left with us begins, "A product or service possesses quality if it helps somebody." Job-to-be-done (JTBD) theory fulfills the gap that gets created when we ask, "How can we ensure our product or service is helping?"
In the IQI Academy, we help people practice application of JTBD theory with a Chain-of-Customers exercise adapted from Brian Joiner. [Me -> Direct customer of my outputs -> Direct customers' customer -> and so on.] Almost no one who attempts to complete the 5-position exercise form can do so without needing to interview people in their chain-of-customers.
Dr. Deming described a system of production this way, "“Everybody at work in any pursuit, any endeavor, be it building, education, Post Office, transportation, manufacturing, service of any kind, has a customer. Somebody takes their work and does something with it. There is a chain of production.”
When we realize that is it the next person or department who must do something with our outputs and that they also have a "next person" by whom their output is being put to use, we begin to see that each person in the chain has a unique Job-to-be-Done.
If we want to "help somebody" with our work, we can do so by learning to better address each Job-to-be-Done in our personal and organizational Chains of Customers.
I am quite sure W. Edwards Deming would have advocated this view:
https://nielspflaeging.substack.com/p/sales-departments-should-never-have
I've been reading Dr. Deming book on the New Economics. Another common mistake that Dr. Deming points out is management demands for pushing out sheer quantity and record volumes of sales, production, work quotas etc. etc. that only makes things worse. Rather than focusing on sheer quantity, management should be continuously building quality, as quality is what leads to increasing growth.