BMS5502S Chap.4 Opportunity Recognition and Jobs to Be Done
Opportunity Recognition and Jobs to Be Done
Two ways in, one question at the end
Session 2 opens by distinguishing two starting points. A solution-first founder has an idea and must find out who has the problem, how painful it is, how people cope today and whether they will pay. A problem-first founder wants to build a business and must find where people struggle, which problems recur and which are worth solving.
The session shows that both routes finish at one question: is a real business waiting here?
It then names the trap that catches many founders, which is confusing a solution with an opportunity. A statement about what the founder has built is not an opportunity. A statement about a specific group, the problem they face and what it costs them is.
The session defines a problem worth pursuing as one that enough people experience often enough, care about enough, and already spend money, time or effort coping with.
Three tests
The session gives three tests of a real opportunity. The problem must be painful enough that customers actively look for a fix. The market must be large enough to build a business.
And the venture must be capable of solving it better than the current alternatives. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of this guide take up the evidence, the sizing and the competition behind those tests.
Jobs to be done
The course's central lens for the first test is Jobs-to-be-Done theory, the first framework in the Session 2 row of the outline.
Customers are described as buying progress on a job they are trying to get done. Jobs sit at three levels: functional, the task itself; social, how the customer wants to be seen; and emotional, how they want to feel.
Two additions make the idea usable in design: desired outcomes, which are specific and measurable, and constraints such as price, complexity, trust, habit and inertia, which explain why the job is not already done.
The session's illustration is a well-known study of a fast-food chain's milkshakes. Asking customers what they wanted in the product led nowhere.
Asking when and why they bought revealed that many were bought early in the morning by commuters who wanted something to make the drive less dull and keep them full until lunch. The competitors were bananas, bagels and coffee, not other milkshakes.
Empathy mapping and a case of a protected problem
An empathy map records what customers say, think, do and feel.
The session places insight in the gap between saying and thinking and treats workarounds as unmet needs made visible. Its case is an engineer who built a bagless vacuum after noticing that every bag vacuum lost suction as it filled.
Incumbents had known about the flaw for decades but earned steady revenue from replacement bags, so the problem stayed open until someone without that incentive solved it and let the product's performance do the marketing.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Solution-first and problem-first routes into a venture
- 02
Why a solution is not an opportunity statement
- 03
Three tests: painful, sizeable, capable
- 04
Functional, social and emotional jobs with outcomes and constraints
- 05
The milkshake study and competition by job
- 06
Empathy mapping and the vacuum cleaner case
Worked example · free
Finding the job behind a purchase
- 2State a functional job consistent with the behaviour.
- 2Add the social or emotional job and a constraint.
- 2Propose a test that asks about past behaviour.
Key terms
- Opportunity Statement
- A description of a specific group, the problem it faces and what that problem costs, written without the solution.
- Jobs to Be Done
- The view that customers buy progress on a task they are trying to accomplish, at functional, social and emotional levels.
- Desired Outcome
- A specific, measurable result a customer wants from getting a job done.
- Customer Constraint
- An obstacle such as price, complexity, trust, habit or inertia that blocks progress on a job.
- Empathy Map
- A four-part record of what a customer says, thinks, does and feels, used to find unspoken needs.
- Workaround
- A makeshift solution a customer already uses, which reveals an unmet need.
- Problem Worth Solving
- A problem that enough people meet often enough, care about and already spend resources coping with.
- Solution-First Route
- Starting from an idea and then searching for who has the problem it solves.
Opportunity Recognition and Jobs to Be Done FAQ
What is the difference between an idea and an opportunity?
An idea describes what the founder wants to build. An opportunity describes a group of people, a problem they face repeatedly and the cost of that problem. The session warns that founders often mistake the first for the second, so a strong opportunity statement never needs the product to make sense.
What are the three tests of a real opportunity?
The problem must be painful enough that customers are actively looking for a fix, the market must be large enough to support a business, and the venture must be able to solve the problem better than the alternatives customers use today.
What are functional, social and emotional jobs?
Functional jobs are the practical tasks, such as getting somewhere or sending money. Social jobs concern how people want others to see them. Emotional jobs concern how they want to feel. Most purchases serve all three, and the social and emotional layers often decide between otherwise similar options.
What does the milkshake study teach about research questions?
Asking customers what they want in a product tends to produce small feature changes. Asking when and why they bought reveals the job, the situation and the real competitors, which in that study were other breakfast options rather than other milkshakes.
Why are workarounds so valuable in customer research?
A workaround shows that a customer already cares enough about a problem to spend effort solving it, and it shows how they are solving it now. The session describes workarounds as unmet needs made visible, and they are stronger evidence than opinions.
Exam move
Write opportunity statements for three problems you have personally experienced this month, each naming the group, the problem and its cost. Then state each as a job at three levels. Practising the rewrite from solution language to job language is the core skill the first project and the final test both reward.
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