The meeting is about helping you shape a new way or a different path. It's about letting everybody be heard. It's about discussing and having real discussions about what has worked in the past and what the new direction is. In today's Circuit Breaker episode, Bob and Greg look at a tool they use frequently: the Gut Check. Bob recalls a consumer packaged goods company that ran into legal and patent issues while developing a product. The team had to hold a "Gut Check" meeting. Discover how this...

“Make sure you're comfortable learning and describing the things you don't know rather than trying to articulate what you do know and finding a way to verify only what you do know. There is no such thing as a completely red line or a completely green line.” In today's Circuit Breaker episode, Bob and Greg delve into the "green line" vs. the "red line." This reflects contrasting approaches to product development. Bob will recount his research on this topic in Japan when he was a member of the...

If I were to change anything, it would be to make sure that students understand why they're there and what progress they're trying to make. That will actually help set the curriculum in the right way for how much and what they should be learning. In today's Circuit Breaker episode, Bob and Greg explore an interesting topic from an audience member: How would the curriculum in business schools change if JTBD was more widely understood? You'll learn what changes they'd propose to integrate the...

Most of the time the process assumes linearity, like step one, step two, step three, step four, but in reality sometimes there is iteration. And there are phases of work as opposed to steps of work. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg address a current trend they've noticed in their interactions with customers, balancing the pendulum between process-driven product development and practice. Learn more about process-driven product development. This topic traces back to...

Listening is about actually understanding where people are going and what they are trying to do. You need to listen very carefully not only to what they are saying, but how they are saying it. On today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg address one of their guiding principles, listening, particularly in the context of JTBD. You'll learn about the orientation of the language as they expound more about listening for intent. Bob will discuss why he is not the biggest fan of...

It's a tool that you have to respect. But you need to realize that ChatGPT can only give you so much. It's only going to regurgitate what's already there; it's not going to help you actually come up with new thoughts. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg will delve into Chat GPT and express their concerns and fears about it. You'll understand the intricacies of using Chat GPT for a JTBD interview or book summary. Bob will explain Clayton Christensen's theory of...

Demand is demand, and supply is your supply. And you must match the two. Only when both sides match can you make a product.  In today's Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg unpack the milkshake story, or what their competitors call "the milkshake marketing myth." They'll explore how the fast food restaurant was able to increase sales of milkshakes and review the entire process. Fun fact: This happened almost 30 years ago. You'll learn why switching the milkshake from ice cream to yogurt...

Progress is when an F1 and an F2 are greater than an F3 and an F4. So push and pull are greater than habits and anxieties. In today's Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg discuss why New Year's resolutions or new habits are hard to maintain as well as their frameworks for achieving and maintaining them. As a first step, they address the forces of progress before moving on to effective strategies. These include making the change smaller, matching it to your motivation and building a time wall....

If I paint the picture for you, I'm convincing. If you paint the picture for me and answer my questions, you create your own context. On today's Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg tackle the myth of convincing and how it leads to buyer's remorse as they talk about selling new ideas. Bob describes a case from the past where convincing someone completely failed. You'll understand why it's difficult for people to change and how you can help people understand the context they're in without...

Empathetic perspective and trade-offs kind of go hand in hand. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg continue their discussion of Bob's book, focusing specifically on trade-offs. You'll learn how empathetic perspective and trade-offs intertwine, for example, by understanding and emulating consumer trade-offs when designing a product. Greg will explain why you need to understand both the demand and supply sides as well as your technical capabilities to gain sufficient...

Cause and effect is something that affects every area of our lives, even if we aren't aware of it. This is particularly true in innovation. On today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg dive into a subject covered in Bob's book, "Learning to Build," namely causal structures, and why they represent one of the five bedrock skills every innovator must possess. They discuss correlation versus causation, as well as the differences between iterating, innovating, and inventing. They...

Technical benchmarking is usually done on the supply side, and consumer benchmarking is done on the demand side. On today's Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg talk about benchmarking and how it works as a kind of prototyping to find a common language for marketing, sales and developing a better product. You'll learn about technical benchmarking and customer benchmarking and how they are used at different times for different purposes, yet blend seamlessly. You will learn about the importance...

I don't need to sell my product; I need to help people buy it. On today's Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg discuss their book Demand-Side Sales. They will talk about why they wrote it, and what they learned from it. They'll also talk about what they believe to be the most difficult challenge for people implementing demand-side sales. Bob will give his perspective on between getting the first yes or no, which is more important in sales. You will learn what progress means in Jobs to Be Done...

When you do a survey or ask a customer in a very generic way, "Why did you buy this?" and they say, "On impulse," that's just a way to shut you down. On today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg unravel impulse buys. They talk about the classic mattress, the interview with Brian Walker where he explains why buying a mattress was an impulse buy for him. This topic is covered in more detail in Competing Against Luck and Demand Side Sales 101. From a business perspective, you...

Restocking is all about consistency, and shopping is when I have an anomaly. On today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg go over the difference between "restocking" and "shopping" and show you how to get your customers into the habit of buying. You'll learn how to change the design of your product to make it more impactful, and that doing so may be harmful. If you have a top-selling product and change the packaging to make it better, are you really making it better or making...

Really good innovators and entrepreneurs have this ability to see things and connect the dots between different views. They are empathetic because they do not judge what it is. Rather, they ask themselves, What is it? And what can we do with it? On today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg talk about the empathetic perspective in Bob's new book, Learning to Build. Bob will explain why he does not like personas and why you need them. You'll discover why the empathetic...

We do a postmortem on the podcast to help us frame what we're going to do in season two. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we reflect on a tool we frequently use, the postmortem, and present some thoughts on the season that just ended. You'll learn about the unexpected growth Bob and Greg have achieved. You'll learn what strategies they plan to use to increase growth next season. Join us for this fascinating and thought-provoking discussion! Enjoy! What You'll Learn in this...

I see prototyping as a tool that I can use on both the supply and demand sides. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we take a closer look at one of the skills Bob discusses in his book Prototyping to learn.  Bob distinguishes between divergent and convergent prototypes and the contexts in which both can be used. You'll learn about the dimensions of prototyping.  You'll learn why 80% of the code generated by some software companies doesn't make it into the product. Bob explains...

When we are at a very early stage of the development process, it is very difficult to get big data. In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we take a look at Big Data to show you how to develop better products. You'll learn why Big Data is not the answer, but only part of the answer.  Bob will talk about design of experiments.  You will discover why it is very important to look at the market in context.  Bob will share the projects they have worked on to help with Big Data. Join us...

“When you're actually in the B2B space, you need to satisfy both the consumer and the customer.” In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg discuss the distinction between a customer and a consumer and how you can distinguish the two.  Bob will also explain the difference between big hires and small hires. You'll discover a unique scenario where 'Jobs To Be Done' are in conflict.  You'll learn how to determine the overlap between the customer and the consumer.   Bob will...

"Another essential ingredient to non-consumption is a desire to be better." In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we dive into unpacking non-consumption and how it helps people grow their businesses.  You'll learn why companies should be concerned about non-consumption. Bob will share why "blue-sky thinking" doesn't work for him.  You'll discover whether big companies or startups are better at identifying non-consumption. Bob and Greg will reveal how they got out of...

"Instead of looking at the world through the lens of what we do or what we have, we should look at the world from the perspective of the consumer." In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we discuss why there needs to be a mindset change if you want to use Jobs To Be Done. You'll learn what paradigms you need to change to be truly customer-centric. You will learn what it means to be truly customer-centric, including a real-world example. You will learn some of the skills required to...

“So the jobs existed, but the change to a new product did not change the jobs. It changed the solutions that were available to satisfy the jobs.” In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, Bob and Greg chat with Matt Sheppard, Associate and Principal at The Rewired Group. You'll learn why there is no such thing as a new idea.  Bob will talk about the knowledge that Jobs To Be Done is built on and how Dr. Deming influenced JTBD. You will learn about the new book Bob is writing. Join us...

Is your innovation plagued with biases that prevent you from becoming customer-centric? In today's episode of the Circuit Breaker Show, we talk about the biases innovators need to drop and the paradigm shifts they should adopt to help them use Jobs To Be Done (JTBD). You'll discover the common assumptions innovators make and why these often act as constraints to innovation. You'll discover why innovators need to spend most of their time focused on what they don't know instead of dwelling on...