The Statue in the Stone: Decoding Customer Motivation with the 48 Laws of Jobs-to-be-Done Philosophy (Jobs-to-be-Done Library)

This book was recommended in a JTBD webinar and I purchased it right away. There are many JTBD books in the market. As a UX practitioner, I like this one in particular.1. Maintenance jobs. People are most familiar with the type of job that has a clear start and a clear end. In reality, there is another type of job that is continuous and lasts for a while. This book first time introduces “Maintenance jobs” – the jobs that don’t have a clear start or end, in contrast to “Project jobs” – the jobs that have a clear start and end. If you are in a domain like mine where this type of job is the majority, you will feel very resonated with this concept.2. Consumption jobs. Many JTBD book authors believe solutions (products) shouldn’t be mentioned at all in the framework. As a UX practitioner, I do both generative research (focus on problems) and evaluative research (focus on solutions). Both can be innovative, and the line between them is fine. JTBD only covers half of what I am doing until I read this book. This book finds a smart way of integrating the two types of research into one framework by introducing the consumption jobs – jobs that narrow the context with a product.There are many other treasures in the book. Dfferent readers may discover different types of gold. These are the top two for me. Strongly recommended!

For those that are thinking "Oh no, not another book on Jobs-to-be-Done" you'll miss out. The Statue in the Stone actually takes sound, proven principles in Jobs thinking and adds a dimension you won't find anywhere else.It's easy to get caught up in perfecting something to the point where the increase in performance far exceeds the increase in satisfaction (as you will see in the book). So, reading through a new perspective that builds upon a method I have studied and practiced for a while was refreshing. It reinforced things I already knew, and it showed me new ways to analyze data and think through customer problems.There is no perfect model, therefore perfecting the model should not be your goal. We can get powerful results when more minds are allowed to adapt models in new ways, to create new value. This book has already got me thinking "What's next?"

I am very pleased to recommend this book by my friend and colleague! I am a big believer in the "jobs-to-be-done" philosophy, and Scott has put together 48 "laws" of that philosophy. (Thinking of it as a philosophy is quite insightful, IMO.) I have attended a workshop on Outcome-Driven Innovation by Tony Ulwick, and the theory of JTBD is a central theme of my graduate Competitive Strategy class at Duke (which Scott guest lectured in just last night.)I love the way he broke up the 48 laws into the Yin and Yang; great metaphor. There were a number of times where what he wrote reminded me of other models: consumption jobs and the buyer utility map in Blue Ocean, and non-consumption and the 3 tiers of non-consumers, also from Blue Ocean.The satisfaction-performance curve is excellent. Loved the quotes with each law, especially law 46.He uses a lot of consumer-oriented examples with frequent call-outs of B2B applications. I do this, too, as I feel people identify more with the consumer orientation, but the models apply to B2B just as well.Chapter 9 is a great way to summarize the other parts of the book.Very well done, and highly recommended.

I was able to read the Kindle edition of this book for free from Amazon. A price point that was too good to pass up. Especially since I just completed an excellent Voice of the Customer training with Scott and his business partner (Blueprinting). As I was reading the book on line, I began to discover several gems that could help me as scientist that is deeply interested in product development and improvement projects. I decided to order a hard copy of the book for future reference.Scott's analysis of jobs and products reminds me of the logic I learned in grade school for diagramming a sentence. Clarity comes from breaking a problem down into key elements and understanding the connections. Just as learning to diagramming a sentence helps one write a better sentences, analyzing the key elements of jobs-to-b- done helps one develop and deliver better products. Scott precisely and simply describes (with examples) the key elements of jobs and how they relate to other jobs (job hierarchy), products, customers, customer needs, and value propositions. I was able to apply several concepts to my ongoing projects.

It took me to page iv to realize I needed to stop and get a highlighter. In the days since I opened the Amazon package, the book has become dogeared and bleeding yellow ink. I like to think that I'm Obi-Wan when it comes to understanding customer needs. If that's the case, then Scott is Yoda. Whether you are an untrained Jedi not yet experienced in the force or a battle tested Jedi Master: this book has great teachings that are practical for all of us interested in the world decoding customer motivations, goals, wants, and desires.

Mr. Burleson brings a new look at jobs-theory of innovation. It is clear that he is both a deep thinker on the topic and also someone who has done the activity in the real world. He tells stories and uses examples to help one understand these concepts - many worked really well - a few others fell flat. However, this book is more interesting than many business books so I thank him for that. If you are responsible for product development and growth for a division, you would benefit from reading this book.

If the subject of customer innovation is a science, this book is comparable to The Algebra of Al-kaharzimi or The Elements of Euclid in mathematics. People learned to apply bits and pieces of the principles of calculation and geometry to solve problems for a thousand of years until these books came as a systematic solution and building blocks of mathematics.If you have a job of innovation for your products and services, whether in your own startup, or in the company you work for, or in your client companies, hire this book and master the JTBD philosophy and it helps you to get the job done perfectly.

I always felt that I represented a large, underserved segment of Jobs learners, in that my desire to learn about Jobs was 'critically important', but I was only 'somewhat satisfied' with the way it was articulated.With the utmost respects to all previous Jobs authors, I felt the way JTBD was articulated was very much in keeping with its philosophy - functional, lean, linear, and was too lite on the secondary, emotional JTBD.When learning anything new, emotions matter to keep people engaged. And by 'people' I mean colleagues on your team or senior stakeholders that control your research time and budget. Most people learning about JTBD are probably sceptical of yet another 'silver bullet' so getting them to take time out of their busy lives is a significant 'job'.And this is where I think the author has excelled. The writing style is accessible, conversational and humble (as Scott pays homage to all those who have previously contributed to JTBD). There are diverse quotes ranging from Bilboa Baggins, Aristotle and even to his guitar teacher(!) that link perfectly to the book's 48 JTBD laws. Daoism is also explored, but it doesn’t feel forced or pretentious.To me, these references move people's minds beyond the confines of organisational thinking and place JTBD into every facet of life. If you can contextualise Jobs this way, then I think it can engage those sceptical, busy stakeholders.I also think this holistic thinking can help them stretch their focus from 'Me' to 'We'. By 'We' I mean help them think about their customer and the context of their lives (which your organisation may have forgotten for some time!)You may not convince colleagues to read this book (they are very busy you know!) but if you're doing an introductory presentation/workshop, the 48 laws coupled with this holistic thinking will certainly engage and persuade.

I have read most of the JTBD literature and if you are going to read one book on the subject I would recommend this book as the one.This is not a prescriptive book of recipes. The author takes a step back to expose the big picture and core underlying philosophy of the JTBD approach. He doest it through clear yet profound principles that create a coherent whole. Plenty of examples are used to illustrate the principles.The author does not shy away from the deep questions and I was surprised at how many times I wrote an objection, comment or question in the margin, only to find it answered on the next page.Though still relatively unknown, IMO this book is already a classic of the field