The Job To Be Done
Shells in the Sands Series #3
The intention for this series is to share cherished thoughts and reflections of life in bite-size pieces. I have been an avid journal writer since my early teens, and most of the original writings were initially captured in my personal journal. I have chosen the most pertinent ones to share with the world through this series. This joy is similar to picking out beautiful shells while walking on a sandy beach.
People don’t want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole. - Theodore Levitt
The Jobs-to-be-Done Theory was recently introduced to me by a good friend. The gist of it is that customers buy products and services to help them get a job done. It is therefore more effective to ask “what is the job they are trying to get done”, which could open up wider horizons instead of constraining to the narrow selection of solutions at hand.
Kurt Lewin, a pioneer in organizational psychology, famously noted that nothing is so practical as a good theory. This theory was certainly at play during this camping trip when we ran into a problem with the battery for my RAD Power bike.
Our first stop was Jekyll Island in Georgia, a perfect midway point between our house in South Carolina and Palm Beach Florida, the destination for our “annual snowbird migration”. We have visited Jekyll Island several times previously, but this was the first time we camped directly on the island. We were most excited about riding the 28-mile long paved bike trail with our RAD bikes. This excitement was especially pronounced given the lengthy preparation we just went through to select, inspect, and install new bike racks so that we could carry the bikes properly with our camper and new Tahoe.
Alas, catastrophe struck on our first bike ride the afternoon of our arrival. When we started out, my battery had only two bars. This was after two full days on the charger. I barely made it back to the campground after less than one hour of riding.
As it turned out, my battery was not charging. Our immediate thought was that we needed a new battery. We had a precedent: Roger’s battery went bad six months ago, and a new battery resolved the problem conveniently. Unfortunately, Rad Power Bike recently discontinued our model, and the exact battery for our model was out of stock. Fortunately, we were able to find a similar replacement on eBay, the same voltage with higher amperage that could be shipped within a few days. We were relieved that at least most of our vacation would be salvaged.
To make sure that this eBay battery would fit, Roger and I were both online talking with two different RAD service representatives. The question we presented them with was, will this eBay battery fit? The answers we were getting were the same: we did not test it; we cannot endorse it.
Roger, the expert mechanic of the family, was not happy with the answer. He was getting frustrated with the lack of ‘common sense’ with the service rep. I searched around on the internet, and an answer on Quora gave him the assurance he was looking for: the voltage has to be the same, and a higher amperage works.
We were about to make the order on eBay when Roger decided to check the fuse on my battery. He said “the RAD service guy did mention it could simply be the fuse was blown. He might have a point. Let me check the fuse”. After examination, he discovered the 5 amp fuse was indeed blown. We replaced the fuse with a new one from an auto store, which costed only $3, compared to a new battery that would have cost more than $400. The battery started to charge immediately. Overnight it was fully charged to five bars. I was elated that I could ride again, as this was the major program for this camping trip.
What lesson was learned? When we called into the RAD customer service, we thought the job to be done was to find out whether the eBay replacement battery would work for my bike. But the real job to be done was to get a working battery for my bike. By focusing in on the actual job to be done, we saved ourselves time, money, and restored our faith in the RAD service representatives. What a practical theory!
