22
Vertex has purposefully placed itself at an intersection of disciplines and technologies where it generates thousands of new drug candidates every day. The goal
is to produce as many potential drug compounds as possible to find the intersection
of the few combinations that will provide Vertex with a breakthrough drug.
This is how it works in the Vertex example: supercomputers randomly combine
molecules with different drug targets. They then throw out the combinations deemed
to be ineffective. The remaining molecule combinations go to a team of computer
scientists, biologists, chemists, medical doctors, manufacturers, and lawyers, who
evaluate them and bring those with the highest potential to fruition. Some compounds are discarded quickly and others a bit later. Some get developed into drugs.
On any given day, Vertex’s computers generate thousands of combinations; the
vast majority of these end up as failures. By increasing the output of ideas and being
unafraid to fail often and quickly, Vertex also has a better chance of developing successful drugs. The strategy is working – at the time of writing, Vertex has already
secured FDA approval for four of its products, and several more are in various
phases of the approval process for human use.
1.9 The Theory of Jobs to Be Done
One of the main reasons innovations fall short of adoption and value creation is the
deep lack of understanding about what drives a user to choose one good or service
over another. While marketing departments allocate talented people and significant
budgets to reaching end-users, in many cases “the customer rarely buys what the
company thinks it is selling him.”
19
The jobs to be done (JTBD thereafter) theory
20
addresses why people buy or
decline to buy what companies try to sell them. One of this theory’s main advantages is that it dramatically increases the ability to predict the likelihood of innovation success, a welcome addition to the toolbox of innovators. It was developed by
the late Clayton M. Christensen and colleagues at Harvard University.
At the core of JTBD is the tenet that users do not purchase goods or services.
Instead, people bring things into their lives to get a specific job done or achieve
progress toward a particular goal under specific circumstances. The goods and services that users acquire are really unconscious means to filling in satisfaction gaps.
Unless we understand the “jobs” that people want to fill, the likelihood of innovation success is severely undermined regardless of budget size or innovator skill.
A “job” can only exist within a given context – the where, when, who, or what.
However, aspects such as the user’s life-stage, family status, and financial status
also need to be considered. These insights are powerful predictors of user behavior.
19 A quote from the late author Peter Drucker, known for his work on business management.
20 Developed and popularized by Clayton Christensen and colleagues at Harvard University, and by
Anthony Ulwick from the consulting firm Strategyn.
H. Campos
Vertex has purposefully placed itself at an intersection of disciplines and technologies where it generates thousands of new drug candidates every day. The goal
is to produce as many potential drug compounds as possible to find the intersection
of the few combinations that will provide Vertex with a breakthrough drug.
This is how it works in the Vertex example: supercomputers randomly combine
molecules with different drug targets. They then throw out the combinations deemed
to be ineffective. The remaining molecule combinations go to a team of computer
scientists, biologists, chemists, medical doctors, manufacturers, and lawyers, who
evaluate them and bring those with the highest potential to fruition. Some compounds are discarded quickly and others a bit later. Some get developed into drugs.
On any given day, Vertex’s computers generate thousands of combinations; the
vast majority of these end up as failures. By increasing the output of ideas and being
unafraid to fail often and quickly, Vertex also has a better chance of developing successful drugs. The strategy is working – at the time of writing, Vertex has already
secured FDA approval for four of its products, and several more are in various
phases of the approval process for human use.
1.9 The Theory of Jobs to Be Done
One of the main reasons innovations fall short of adoption and value creation is the
deep lack of understanding about what drives a user to choose one good or service
over another. While marketing departments allocate talented people and significant
budgets to reaching end-users, in many cases “the customer rarely buys what the
company thinks it is selling him.”
19
The jobs to be done (JTBD thereafter) theory
20
addresses why people buy or
decline to buy what companies try to sell them. One of this theory’s main advantages is that it dramatically increases the ability to predict the likelihood of innovation success, a welcome addition to the toolbox of innovators. It was developed by
the late Clayton M. Christensen and colleagues at Harvard University.
At the core of JTBD is the tenet that users do not purchase goods or services.
Instead, people bring things into their lives to get a specific job done or achieve
progress toward a particular goal under specific circumstances. The goods and services that users acquire are really unconscious means to filling in satisfaction gaps.
Unless we understand the “jobs” that people want to fill, the likelihood of innovation success is severely undermined regardless of budget size or innovator skill.
A “job” can only exist within a given context – the where, when, who, or what.
However, aspects such as the user’s life-stage, family status, and financial status
also need to be considered. These insights are powerful predictors of user behavior.
19 A quote from the late author Peter Drucker, known for his work on business management.
20 Developed and popularized by Clayton Christensen and colleagues at Harvard University, and by
Anthony Ulwick from the consulting firm Strategyn.
H. Campos