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The Wheel of Progress® is a framework created by Eckhart Boehme and Peter Rochel leveraging jobs-to-be-done principles and methods to evaluate why customers "hire" a given product or service to accomplish a Customer Job.

It provides a canvas to be used when conducting customer research to evaluate the journey a customer takes from first thought to use of the solution (consumption/job satisfaction). In addition, it enables one to capture insights and data in relationship to twelve elements of customer progress design: events, motivational forces (push, pull, habits, anxieties), constraints (internal, external, temporal), desires, avoidances, solutions (competitor and tangential), customer jobs, pains and gains.

 

Four Myths regarding Product Market Fit

 
 

Myth #1
Product market fit is always a discrete, big bang event.

The truth is that product market fit often requires a great deal of trial and error, experimenting with different ideas or concepts, learning from successes and failures, ultimately pivoting to a stronger solution.

Myth #2
It's patently obvious when you have product market fit.

Attaining product market fit is multi-dimensional. It requires isolating who your customers are, figuring out their needs, designing a product that will blow their minds - these are as much marketing decisions and activities as they are design and development choices.

 
 

Myth #3
Once you achieve product market fit, you can't lose it.

If only that were the case, that would be awesome. Unfortunately it is not. Customer motivations, aspirations, expectations, wants and needs change over time. And it seems like the speed at which these changes occurs grows faster and faster.

Myth #4
Once you have product market fit, you don't need to sweat the competition.

The competition never stops, even if you are unaware of competitive offerings, your customer most likely is aware of them and continually assessing whether their jobs-to-be-done are being met.

 
The Wheel of Progress® and its associated jobs-to-be-done based interview approach can be used to support both customer discovery and customer validation activities as part of customer development.

JTBD Theory

Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) Theory

Jobs-to-be-done theory is foundational to the process of Finding Product Market Fit. Customers aren’t looking to buy your product or service. They are seeking to make progress in their lives by accomplishing their job-to-be-done. They ‘hire’ your product or service to accomplish their job-to-be-done and in the process ‘fire’ an alternative solution that no longer meets their needs.

It recognizes that different customer segments might have very different underlying motivations or reasons for choosing or not choosing your product.

JTBD - Winter Aparrel

Customer's don't want a winter parka, they want a warmer commute, to feel safe during an outdoor adventure, to capture a winter's day photo under the best natural light, etc.. Winter apparel simply helps them accomplish their job-to-be-done.

Canada Goose's growth is driven by their ability to inspire people to spend more time outdoors, in the cold, across a diverse set of activities, achieving their customers aspirational, emotional and functional jobs-to-be-done.

JTBD - Smart Thermostat

Customers don't want a smart thermostat, they want a more modern looking home, to lower their monthly heating bill, to avoid having to get up in the middle of the night, etc.. A smart thermostat simply helps them accomplish their job-to-be-done.

ecobee's growth is driven by serving the needs of a broad spectrum of 'technical' and 'non-technical' homeowners who differ in their needs related to 'control and configuration' versus 'ease of use' and 'setting it and forgetting it'.

JTBD - Small Group Travel

Customers don't want to simply take a trip, they want to grow and develop as a person, immerse themselves in another culture, broaden their world perspective, experience authentic local cuisine, rejuvenate themselves physically and emotionally, and build life-time memories. Small group travel helps them achieve their job-to-be-done.

G Adventures's growth is driven by their ability to create traveling experiences that meet the needs of a diverse group of people seeking new adventures. Achieving the customers (adventure seeking travellers) jobs-to-be-done.

JTBD - Security System

Customer's don't want a security system, they want to know their loved ones are safe when they travel, to know when a package was delivered to their door, to enable their kids to come home from school during lunch, etc.. A security system helps them accomplish their customer job-to-be-done.

Simplisafe's growth is driven by their ability to design products that meet a diverse set of customer expectations, wants & needs and that can be upgraded or improved over time satisfying their customers (homeowners) jobs-to-be-done.

Leveraging the Wheel of Progress® and jobs-to-be-done interviews can help inform both your value hypothesis and your growth hypothesis. Both are critical to determining product market fit.

GROWTH HYPOTHESIS

A growth hypothesis represents your best thinking about how you can scale the number of customers attracted to your product or service. Retain them over time.

VALUE HYPOTHESIS

A value hypothesis is an attempt to articulate the key assumption that underlies why a customer is likely to use your product. What value they see in it or get out of it.

 
 
 
 

Customer Cycle of Progress

From First Thought to Continuous Use


The Wheel of Progress® is used to map out the timeline from First Thought to Continuous Use of your product or service. Jobs-to-be-done based interviews with actual users of your product or service help uncover deep insights into how different customers make progress (or not) towards achieving their aspirational, functional, emotional, and/or social jobs-to-be-done.

 
 
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Leveraging jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) interviews we gain insights into every aspect of the customer journey. We learn about the customers initial struggling moment, their underlying motivations for seeking to make progress in their lives, the triggering events that transition them from passively looking to actively looking for new solutions, the criteria by which they compare competing solutions, and their actual experiences consuming the product or service.

First Thought

An initial recognition, sometimes sub-consciously, that their current situation needs to change, that things could be better. The 'struggling moment'.

Passively Looking

Starting to observe, discover or learn about different ways in which their needs (struggling moment) could be met.

Triggering Event

Something that occurs, a critical moment in time, an event that takes place, causing someone to transition from passively to actively looking or from actively looking to deciding.

Actively Looking

Beginning to expend greater time and effort to find a solution to their 'struggling momenent'. Seeking to address or solve a problem sooner rather than later.

Deciding

Having done their research regarding solution alternatives, now evaluating different ways to solve their problem, assessing pros/cons, making trade-off decisions.

Hiring

Making the actual decision to 'hire' your product or service and in the process 'fire' something that no longer is meeting their needs.

Consuming

Starting to make use of the product or service, sometimes simplay as a trial, assessing whether it meets their expectations, wants and needs. Which aspects of the jobs-to-be-done (aspirational, functional, emotional, and social) are not being met.

Continuous Use

Building a new habit through the continuous use of a product or service. Confirmation that the original 'struggling moment' has been addressed.

Each individual passes through each of these stages of the cycle of customer progress in their own way. Insights gained at each stage of this journey can be leveraged to rethink how you best engage with customers to meet their expectations, wants and needs. To attain product market fit.

The Four Motivational Forces

Understanding Switching Behavior

Critical to achieving product market fit is building an improved understanding of 'switching behavior'. Determining what point does someone decides to 'hire' your product or service and 'fire' an alternative product or service? Critical to this is studying the four motivational forces at play: push, pull, habits, and anxieties.

Two of these motivational forces can be considered promoting forces (push and pull) and two of them can be considered blocking forces (habit and anxiety). Switching behavior occurs when promoting forces become greater than blocking forces.

 
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Push

The push of the current situation, pain point, unmet want or need motivating an individual to seek out or search for new solutions to their problem (or status quo).

+Some Examples

A longer commute (public transport + walking); very cold watching sons hockey practice; caught in snow storm, had to stay the night, while snowmobiling [Winter Parka].

Waking up in the middle of night to change temp; super high electricity bill; forgot to turn off the thermostat while on vacation for two weeks [Smart Thermostat]

Graduated college taking a gap year before grad school; take PTO or lose it; just became empty nester, finally have the time [Small Group Travel].

Package stolen from front porch; my daughter forgot key and was locked out; neighbors just had a break-in [Security System].

Pull

The pull of the new idea/solution, representing a desired future state or resolution to a known pain point or problem, representing progress.

+Some Examples

New job, want to have more professional look at the office; spend more time outdoors, take longer winter hikes; capture that perfect photo as the sun sets [Winter Parka].

Get a better nights sleep; house warm when we get back from traveling; the guest room isn't so so cold when family visits [Smart Thermostat].

Meet people more like me who love adventure; it's safer than traveling alone; not be trapped in a resort; learn more about the local culture [Small Group Travel].

Greater peace of mind with wife being alone at home when I travel; know that my kids got home from school safely [Security System].

Habits

Habits are considered a blocking force in that they prevent an individual from deciding to 'hire' your product or service. They represent an allegiance to the status quo (good enough solutions).

+Some Examples

My good old winter parka is good enough, I can wear it another season; avoid staying out in oold too long; just grin and bear it [Winter Parka].

We simply always wear a sweater in that room; we don't use the basement during the winter months; we simply put duct tape on the thermostat so kids can't change it [Smart Thermostat].

We only travel domestically (it's safer); my girlfriend and I talk about traveling together, but, can never find the time to plan it; we simply don't travel much given the cost [Small Group Travel].

We leave a key under the mat for the kids coming home from school; rely on our neighbors to keep a check on our house while away; our dog barks at any strangers that come by the home [Security System].

Anxieties

Anxieties are considered a blocking force in that they prevent an individual from deciding to 'hire' your product or service due to either concerns and/or unanswered questions.

+Some Examples

Is it as warm as they say it is?; will it fit me well?; is it really worth an extra $300 for a super nice winter coat?; how difficult will it be be clean and maintain? [Winter Parka].

Will it be compatible with my furnace?; can I install it myself?; what if another vendor comes out with a better product?; will it be reliable? [Smart Thermostat].

What if I am the only single person on the trip?; how safe is it now to travel there?; will we have flexibility to do our own thing when we want? will the planned meals meet my dietary restrictions? [Small Group Travel].

Is there a subscription fee?; can someone hack it from the outside?; can I install it myself?; can I connect other devices that I own to it? [Security System].

Once again, a given decision to "hire" a product or service to perform a customer job (aspirational, functional, social, or emotional) represents switching behavior. This is the point in time where promoting forces are greater than the blocking forces. Studying the switching behavior can help identify ways in which to target other prospective customers, helping them overcome the same blocking forces.

The Four Quadrants

Understanding how customers make progress


As customer interviews are conducted different aspects of the customer experience are captured related to both problem-solution fit and product-market fit. In addition, data and insights are mapped to the four quadrants of The Wheel of Progress®: awareness, expectations, trade-offs decisions, and customer experience.


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This mapping of data and insights is performed across all interviews and then synthesized into a customer jobs hierarchy. Opporutunities to help customers make progress are identified in each of the four quadrants.

Want to learn more about leveraging The Wheel of Progress® to assess product-market fit?

 

Product Market Fit Research Sprint

Critical Insights regarding Product Market Fit

Capturing key insights regarding product market fit leveraging The Wheel of Progress® and jobs-to-be-done based interview methods and techniques. The following is a breakdown of the key activities performed during the five to six week CX Research Sprint:

 

Pre-research

→ Define existing targeted customer segments, problem you are seeking to solve, value proposition, and strategic differentiation

→ Assemble core project team, outline activities, define roles and responsibilities

→ Educate on The Wheel of Progress® and how it will be utilized

→ Define scope of customer interviews to be performed and number of interviews

→ Determine participant recruitment strategy and incentives

→ Design screener to segment customers and select desired participants




CX Research

→ Invite and select participants across each targeted customer segments

→ Conduct customers interviews leveraging The Wheel of Progress® and jobs-to-be-done interview methods

→ Listen for first thought, struggling moment, events, triggers, four motivational forces, and constraints

→ Listen for insights across each quadrant of The Wheel of Progress® (awareness, expectations, trade-offs, and experience)

→ Close customer interviews and thank all participants

→ Create transcripts of customer interviews for further analysis


Post-research

→ Publish transcripts from interviews for core project team review

→ Analyze and tag (code) customer conversations related to The Wheel of Progress®

→ Translate conversations and map to the Wheel of Progress®, capture key quotes related to each quadrant (awareness, expectations, trade-offs, experience)

→ Review and refine initial Wheel of Progress® data and insights from interviews

→ Summarize core themes and learnings from research into customer segments

→ Present findings and make recommendations

SPRINT DURATION: Five to six weeks

Professional Fees: $20,000 - $25,000


Based upon scope/number of interviews conducted; pricing assumes up to 12 to 16 customer interviews, additional expenses estimated from $1,250 to $2,000 for participant recruitment and interview transcripts.
 

Ready to conduct your Product Market Fit assessment?

Benefits To Be Realized

Product Market Fit Asessment


Leveraging The Wheel of Progress® to evaluate product market fit, capturing the voice of the customer through jobs-to-be-done interviews, will provide the following benefits:

Apply the principles of innovation pioneer Clayton Christensen to build an understanding of how your targeted market/customers seek to make progress in their lives.

Boost your Customer IQ by uncovering 12 unique elements of customer progress design: events, motivational forces (push, pull, habits, anxieties), constraints, desires, avoidances, solutions, customer jobs, pains and gains.

Gain a better understanding of the entire cycle of customer progress from First Thought to Continuous Use and the underlying customer-jobs-to-be-done at each stage of the customer journey.

Refine your product or service value proposition helping further differentiate it in a increasingly crowded marketplace.

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Identify both tactical and strategic opportunities to improve market messaging and product offering to achieve product market fit.

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Achieve results in weeks rather than months leveraging The Wheel of Progress approach to conducting insights research.