You don't buy a life, you build one. 🔨 No. 147

You don't buy a life, you build one. 🔨 Tables are made for this. Laughing matters. How and what? Good question. Ultimate job to be done.

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Hello there:

Are you a DYI, a DYFM or do you fall somewhere in the middle?

DYI stands for "do it yourself"; DYFM is "do it for me." Since there's no average person, it's up to you to figure out where you stand. DYI people tend to form a deeper connection with the place where they live.

Thus, you don't just buy a life, you build one is an apt slogan. B&Q came up with a brilliant campaign to appeal to anyone even a little bit on the fence (pun intended) about DYI. Posters and billboards to complement TV ads in friendly orange with "I've accomplished something" messages in big letters for the home improvement UK chain. Their website is literally diy.com!

And you know what? Photos do look better on a wall, than they do on a phone.

Doing manual things around the house will keep you mind off unpleasant stuff. It's very therapeutic to feel connected and grounded with things to do. My grandmother used to tell me, "when you're angry, scrub floors!" Worth remembering next time... in place of a tweet storm, you'll have clean tiles (and your reputation intact).

You know, nothing frays nerves quite as much as sleep deprivation. This has become a greater risk during the pandemic. IKEA wants to drive that message home and replace your energy drinks, pills or tablets, and anti-wrinkle creams with—you guessed it—flowing bed sheets, comfy pillows, and soft comforters.

You already know from previous letters how serious they are about field research. This is semiotics at its best in service of brand strategy: symbols drawing meaning from their associations with culture. Brilliant work and execution.

These two examples tap into different ways of seeing the world that connect with what drives people's thoughts. I love them because it cuts across disciplines to gain perspective that helps you understand the symbolism in brands. But they both also have a very pragmatic component that helps connect with the progress people want to make in their lives (Customer Job.)

What follows is an example how you could transform a common object into a platform for joy... by understanding people's desire for shared experiences.

"Are tables made for this?"
Is a powerful cultural narrative.
Think about it as you watch.
One minute, and you have a full spectrum of behaviors.

Barilla says, come as you are...
... we help you come together.
I don't know about you,
but it pulls at my heartstrings.

Consistency is key.
This other :30" ad narrated by popular
Italian singer Mina (who's been a sustained
hit-maker since the 1960s)
is from 10 years ago.

When a company transfers value by
making culture.

+

Three Customer Jobs-related thoughts

1.

I originally started a weekly email to share links to useful information I had come across. This was years ago. It took a lot of time to organize, and people were telling me they often didn't have time to explore the links.

I tried different formats that didn't work well for me, nor for the people who wanted to stay in touch. Talking with readers led me (indirectly) to uncover that people wanted help to make sense of things, but in a light-touch kind of way. So they wouldn't feel bad if they didn't read one week.

This is still a work in progress—because we're all progressing all the time. But hopefully, it's helping make your life better. There's a community aspect I'm still working out. But for now, know that you're among peer thinkers and doers.

2.

If you're a futurist of strategist you're in the business of widening your perspective. This is useful for seeing better into potential futures, but it's also a powerful thinking tool for understanding what got you (or your client/company) here.

This is important and often overlooked: what got you here, won't work (as well) or be sustainable in the future.

It's valid when you go from individual contributor to manager as it does to go from today's success to tomorrow's (keep reading about how fast gets all the attention and slow has all the power).

3.

I've been looking into the psychology of humor with related social expressions like stand up comedy. There's been much talk about improvisation as a wonderful tool for connection (and tons of other benefits), but not as much about stand up as a tool for getting people to agree that there's a context (unspoken).

Enhancing your appreciation of nuance and ability to observe are useful byproducts for strategists and researchers. If you dig a little deeper in humor (or other relevant emotional responses), you can find symbols and signs that give you a more nuanced understanding of how your brand appeals on top of the job it does for customers.

But what about the role of provocation? Stand up can put adults in different frames of mind in similar ways as a teacher can put students into different situations to think, wonder, and engage in the work and life of others. Imagine if you were to write a visceral response to a provocation... and if someone actually collected and quarterbacked a conversation about it.

It's sort of what happens with stand up: to a non observer there's no feedback, but if you're even a little observant, you can learn a lot from the reactions in the room.

Good question

How do you make a product people actually want to buy?

Customers struggle when they try to make their life better but don't know how. We call this struggle a Job to be Done. Alan Klement says you can get better at creating and selling products that people will buy. His book is (oh, joy) forward-progressing on making lives better and not backward-looking.

What does a virtual event that feels real look like?

Conferences are all happening online now. Some organizers are finding ways to make the virtual more real through creativity. Nick Parker points to the metaphor and topography of a campsite for The Creative Bravery Festival (now concluded.) Ironically, it can exist in this form only virtually (there's that humor again.)

How does modern AI work?

It does not involve telling the computer what steps to take. Rather, it involves defining the problem space and what "success" looks like, and then through repeated iterations allowing the algorithm to arrive at the optimum solution. Algorithms may also collude (some provocation.)

What's the role of culture in your ability to deliver insights?

Insights are in the practical wisdom that allows us to apply knowledge, judgement and intuition to make decisions. For that, you've got to be human. 5 routes to recover humanity. I loved the one about time sheets not taking away uncertainty (good provocation.) Also worth remembering that no innovator gives customers what they want; they give them the product that will make their lives better.

Ultimate job to be done

I was talking to a fellow consultant about making an impact with your work the other day. He held senior leadership roles in prestigious global companies before consulting. I had similar roles in the corporate world (though I also worked in and with startups).

Long story short, we both looked at the parent we admired as a guide when we started. And then sort of went with how things turned out. Choosing a career is the ultimate job to be done question isn't it? Especially now that we have no idea what jobs will be in demand in the future.

That, plus hiring is broken. A few years ago, I came across an organization that helps with the question of deciding your career (they also help with the impact question.) If you have teenage children like my friend, it's worth taking a look at their career decision tool.

There are many decision tools now. But I find that a little more awareness of how I make decisions is already a big help. For that, a decision journal could be just the thing.

“Whatever decision you have made for your future,
you are authorized, and I would say encouraged,
to subject it to continuous scrutiny,
ready to change it,
if it no longer responds
to your wishes."

- Rita Levi-Montalcini
Italian Nobel laureate (neurobiology)