Yeah, if you want to fix something said the store manager, work on that milkshake machine.
That milkshake machine was a mess. It had a big footprint. It took time to use. It only sold three things. Burger and fries joints were born with the milkshake, but after half a century of service, the machine was as good as a melted shake.
Oh, interesting, said Bob Moesta, I think we can do something with that.
Moesta and his team were cost-cutting and product-launch consultants with bigger dreams. Rather than help others, could they launch something themselves?
The restaurant had time, location, and item-stamped data. Moesta’s misfits1 looked at when and where the current shakes were sold. Three stores stood out.
They visited. Bob, clipboard in hand, stood in line and asked the people about their context2. Where were they headed? Where were they coming from? Oh, you’re headed to work? What kind of job? Oh, that sounds like a tough job. What else did you consider?
In 1994 Bob found the job.
But that was only half of it.
Jobs theory blends supply and demand. Moesta identified the demand. But he needed food scientists and culinary specialists to figure out the supply. Could they actually build what customers wanted to hire?
They could!
The right mix of fat, protein, and carbs left people feeling full. The right thickness made it last. The right size made it fit in a cupholder - it’s what people wanted!
They rolled out the new product in ten stores. It worked! Jobs worked! It worked as a theory. It worked in implementation.
Until it didn’t.
There was a problem. Moesta’s mix sold but what happened after the morning milkshake mania? Clean up.
Stores didn’t have an extra person-hour to clean the machine - especially right before the lunch rush, their bread and butter service. Bob’s bunch missed the supply-side constraint on their side.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it goes the expression (and Christensen’s disruption theory) and the fast food joint didn’t want to add morning milkshakes.
And now you know, the rest of the story.
There are five steps, recaps Greg.
Frame the problem.
Collect the data, and look for anomalies.
Detail the Job.
Identify the supply side situation - yours and theirs.
Blend the above.
Homework: As you go through a project are you looking at supply first or demand first?
And remember. It’s not that one is better than the other but that both are important and we tend to look only at one.
Misfit is lovingly used here because outsiders see what insiders miss.
Shopping vs Restocking explained that when contexts change: who, what, when, where, etc. customers are more likely to shop rather than restock.