Requirements come from end-users, stakeholders, surveys and all kinds of sources. However, with all sorts of inputs, “ How can we validate if a requirement is valid or not?” is one of the most asked questions from my workshops and sessions.
I want to start from what Henry Ford — the founder of Ford Motor Company said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”Yes, don’t doubt this. Even the users themself might not know what the requirements are. That is to say, we can’t validate the requirement by asking the users or stakeholders.
How can we validate a requirement then? Couple of techniques to do so. Job To Be Done(JTBD) is one of the best ways to validate.
What is Jobs?
The jobs last, but the products usually won’t. The same job as listening to music, we may use tape to listen to music ten years ago, but now an App on a mobile phone can help the user get the job done.
We should focus on the job itself but not the function of any products. In our software world, suppose we want to build an App that can track user’s groceries buying. Instead of putting “List all the groceries” in JTBD, we should put “Bought all the groceries.”. Now you should have some feeling on the difference between JTBD and the requirement itself.
How can the JTBD validate the requirements?
Let’s talk about the groceries App. If the requirement comes to you saying, “As a user, I want to add the shop name for each of the items I want to buy so that I would know where I bought this grocery.”
We should look back to the JTBD, and the user wants to “Bought all the groceries.”, does he cares where he bought them? Probably not, at least not for this JTBD.
How to think about the JTBD items?
We can think from these four types,
- Functional — the specific task or problem that the users focus
- Social — the way that the users want to be perceived
- Emotional — the emotional state that the users are seeking
- Supporting — supporting jobs
Let’s take an example,
If we want to design a product to improve a business traveller’s travel experience, what is the JTBD for a business traveller?
Functional
- packing
- eating
- business activities to attend
- sleep
Social
- connect with friends located there
- look good with clients
Emotional
- feel connected with family
- feel safe overnight
Supporting
- reserving the accommodation
JTBD is just one way to validate the requirements. It is also an excellent way to generate the value propositions with pains and gains together. We can use the value proposition canvas for innovation. If you are interested, we can talk about this more later. And if you want to talk about other ways that can validate requirements, leave a comment to me, we can dive into that in the next post. I hope this sharing can find you well.
