Maintenance Journey

JTBD Prompt Operating System and Playbook

Maintainer experiences the Maintenance Journey — The ongoing care and upkeep of the solution.

Job: Maintaining a solution or product

Job Steps

These are sub-objectives of the overall job following the 9 universal phases of Jobs to be Done. Each step is further supported by several performance metrics that customers use to measure success. These are what get prioritized in a survey.

Click Step ⬇️to Open Performance Metrics ➡️

Identify Potential Issues

The ability to detect and recognize potential problems or areas of improvement in the product or solution, ensuring proactive maintenance.

1

Gather Maintenance Tools and Resources

The ability to locate and assemble all necessary tools, equipment, and documentation required for effective maintenance.

2

Review Maintenance Protocols

The ability to examine and understand the standard operating procedures and guidelines for maintaining the product or solution.

3

Prepare the Work Environment

The ability to set up the workspace or environment to facilitate safe and efficient maintenance activities.

4

Perform Maintenance Tasks

The ability to execute the core maintenance activities on the product or solution, addressing identified issues and following established protocols.

5

Monitor Maintenance Progress

The ability to continuously assess the effectiveness of the maintenance process, ensuring that the tasks are on track and meeting desired standards.

6

Troubleshoot Unexpected Issues

The ability to identify and resolve unforeseen problems that arise during the maintenance process, ensuring the continuity and efficiency of the operation.

7

Adjust Maintenance Strategy

The ability to modify the approach or techniques used in maintenance based on real-time feedback or evolving conditions.

8

Finalize Maintenance Activities

The ability to complete the maintenance process, ensuring that the product or solution is fully operational and meets the required standards.

9

Contexts

When jobs have too high of a context, insights tend to be less actionable - or at least relevant for certain stakeholders. These contexts provide a means for narrowing the scope of your research in a consistent and structured fashion. Certainly, more contexts exist, and can be addressed with a specific request.

Situations

While a group of people may be trying to get the same job done, the way the respond to needs-prioritization questions can be different. When we find statistical clusters of needs we need a way to describe why the group is different from another, not simply that that are different based on how they rate needs. Situations (aka Complexity Factors) that end users experience when they execute the job (or last executed the job) could be different, thus resulting in a different prioritization of specific performance metrics. One or or more situations could correlate to a segment, and it is recommend that follow up interviews are done with actual respondents within a segment to help you gain clarity, and verbatims you can use to construct your strategic storyline for the segment.

Ideal States

There are times when going deep into a job, job map, and success metrics is just too much of a gamble. Is it the right job to study? Ideal states give us a handful of indicators that can be used in addition to importance, difficulty, and frequency to understand which jobs groups of end users struggle with, and why.

Financial Metrics

The purchase decision-maker has a say in product selection, and costs relative to cash outlays, direct or indirect, are what they think about. These questions can only be answer by the person who makes those decisions. For consumers, many times you can included these in a core functional study. However, beware of business end users who simply use products that are purchased for them. They are not the right audience for these metrics.

1. Minimize the cost of regular maintenance required to keep the product functioning optimally.
2. Minimize the cost of replacement parts needed for the product's upkeep.
3. Minimize the cost of downtime when the product is under maintenance.
4. Minimize the cost of specialized tools required for maintaining the product.
5. Minimize the cost of training for the maintenance staff to understand the product.
6. Minimize the cost of disposal of the product after its lifecycle.
7. Minimize the cost of upgrades to keep the product up-to-date.
8. Minimize the cost of warranty extensions for the product.
9. Minimize the cost of emergency repairs when the product breaks down unexpectedly.
10. Minimize the cost of inspections to ensure the product is functioning correctly.
11. Minimize the cost of compliance with safety and environmental regulations related to the product.
12. Minimize the cost of documentation required for maintaining the product.
13. Minimize the cost of software updates for the product.
14. Minimize the cost of energy consumption of the product during its operation.
15. Minimize the cost of storage for the product when not in use.
16. Minimize the cost of transportation for the product to and from the maintenance site.
17. Minimize the cost of insurance for the product against potential damages.
18. Minimize the cost of labor required for maintaining the product.
19. Minimize the cost of consumables used during the maintenance of the product.
20. Minimize the cost of cleaning the product after each maintenance session.

Related Jobs

When a core functional job is getting close to maturity, we have to look beyond steps or metrics and find other jobs the end user is trying to accomplish so we can help them. This provides an opportunity to not only get a job done better, but get more jobs done on a single platform (and potentially better).

Before Maintaining a Solution or Product

1. Understanding the Product - Familiarize yourself with the product or solution, its components, and its functionality.
2. Identifying Potential Issues - Predict potential problems that may arise during the maintenance process.
3. Planning Maintenance Schedule - Develop a schedule for regular maintenance checks and updates.
4. Gathering Necessary Tools and Resources - Ensure all necessary tools, software, and resources are available for the maintenance process.
5. Setting Up a Backup System - Create a backup of the product or solution to prevent data loss during maintenance.

During Maintaining a Solution or Product

1. Performing Regular Checks - Conduct regular checks on the product or solution to identify any issues or malfunctions.
2. Updating the Product - Implement updates to the product or solution as necessary.
3. Fixing Identified Issues - Address and resolve any issues or malfunctions identified during the regular checks.
4. Documenting the Process - Keep a record of all maintenance activities, including what was done, when, and any issues encountered.
5. Communicating with Stakeholders - Keep all relevant parties informed about the maintenance process and any significant findings or changes.

After Maintaining a Solution or Product

1. Reviewing Maintenance Activities - Evaluate the effectiveness of the maintenance activities and identify areas for improvement.
2. Updating Maintenance Records - Update the maintenance records with the most recent activities and findings.
3. Training Users - Train users on any new features or changes made during the maintenance process.
4. Monitoring the Product - Continuously monitor the product or solution to ensure it is functioning as expected after maintenance.
5. Planning for Future Maintenance - Based on the findings from the current maintenance process, plan for future maintenance activities.

Emotional Jobs

Understanding how end users want to feel (or avoid feeling) in the context of getting the job done is important in several ways. First, understanding this helps to think about more abstract things things a user considers when actually performing the job (or access a service/journey). Second, these insights can be critical in messaging to your offer, which is something your marketing team will value.

Desired Emotions:

1. Feel Motivated: As a maintainer, it is crucial to feel motivated when maintaining a solution or product. This motivation can drive you to ensure the product is always in the best possible condition and meets the needs of the users.
2. Feel Confident: Confidence is necessary when making decisions about what needs to be done to maintain the product. This could include deciding on the necessary updates or identifying potential issues that need to be addressed.
3. Feel Focused: Maintaining a solution or product requires a high level of focus. This focus can help you to identify small details that could potentially become larger issues if not addressed.
4. Feel Satisfied: Satisfaction can come from knowing that you have done your job well and that the product is functioning as it should be. This can provide a sense of accomplishment and drive you to continue doing your best work.

Undesired Emotions:

1. Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed: As a maintainer, it's important to manage your workload effectively to avoid feeling overwhelmed. This could negatively impact your ability to maintain the product effectively.
2. Avoid Feeling Frustrated: Frustration can occur when issues arise that are difficult to resolve. However, it's important to remain calm and focused in order to find the best solution.
3. Avoid Feeling Doubtful: Doubt can hinder your ability to make decisions and maintain the product effectively. Confidence in your skills and abilities is key.
4. Avoid Feeling Burnt Out: Maintaining a solution or product can be a demanding job, and it's important to manage your workload and take breaks when necessary to avoid burnout.

Social Jobs

Ditto emotional jobs

Desired Perceptions:

1. Be Perceived as Diligent - As a maintainer, it's important to be seen as diligent. This means you pay attention to details, follow through on tasks, and don't overlook any aspect of the product or solution you're maintaining.
2. Be Perceived as Skilled - Mastery over the product or solution you're maintaining is crucial. Being seen as skilled implies you can execute tasks efficiently and effectively.
3. Be Perceived as Reliable - You want to be seen as someone who can be depended on. This means that you consistently deliver high-quality work and meet your responsibilities in maintaining the product or solution.
4. Be Perceived as Proactive - Being proactive means you anticipate potential issues and take action to prevent them. This is a valuable trait in a maintainer, as it can prevent problems before they occur.

Undesired Perceptions:

1. Avoid Being Perceived as Negligent - Negligence, or failing to properly maintain the product or solution, can lead to serious issues. It's important to avoid this perception by always being thorough in your work.
2. Avoid Being Perceived as Incompetent - Incompetence can undermine your credibility and the trust others place in you. Always strive to improve your skills and knowledge to avoid this perception.
3. Avoid Being Perceived as Unreliable - Unreliability can lead to missed deadlines and poor-quality work. It's important to always meet your responsibilities and deliver high-quality work to avoid this perception.
4. Avoid Being Perceived as Reactive - Being reactive, or only taking action when problems occur, can lead to unnecessary issues and damage. Strive to be proactive in your work to avoid this perception.

How this was made

I used the tools that I’ve shared in my Jobs-to-be-Done Masterclass: Eliminating Jobs-to-be-Done Interviews with Artificial Intelligence ⬅️ to build this entire catalog.

While it did take some time, that’s because there are 16 journeys and the catalogs are comprehensive. You will not find anything like this in the JTBD practitioner world.

Consultants make their money doing things. Innovators automate things. I hope Customer Experience (CX) professionals are able to leverage this work to accelerate their own.

Purpose

Journey Mapping exercises typically end with a visualization of a make believe journey with a smattering of pain points expressed by a smattering of real people.

Have you ever wondered why you constantly have to redo these?

What I’ve developed above may not be absolutely perfect for your situation, but with a few tweaks it will stand the test of time as the backbone of your prioritization of customer needs, and the foundation of your strategic roadmaps far into the future.

We don’t study solutions, we study the jobs your customers are trying to get done as they experience the lifecycle of ownership within your ecosystem.

Simple as that.

Now, go run a survey. I’ll be incorporating some accelerators for that very, very soon.

Contact

Mike Boysen - Managing Director

Practical JTBD, LLC

www.pjtbd.com | http://jobstobedone.substack.com

678-824-2789 | info@pjtbd.com

Copyright

The entire catalog is covered under creative commons….

The Customer Journey 2.0 Toolkit © 2024 by Michael A. Boysen is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International