Removing Process Waste with Jobs-to-be-Done
Background
As vehicle demand surged and the need for incentives declined, Cox Automotive seized the opportunity to streamline the incentive authoring process. As the lead UX Architect, I was responsible for spearheaded a Jobs-to-be-Done approach that eliminated 55% of inefficiencies in incentive authoring . The effort resulted in faster authoring and error-free incentive data in our desking tools.
HCD Methods
Interviewing > User Personas > Job Mapping > User Surveys > Opportunity Landscape
The Challenge
Identify the most impactful areas for improvement by understand the Incentive Author’s job and their unmet needs. Using the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework, I set out to pinpoint the delays, errors, and unpredictability within the existing process, laying the foundation for strategic investment.
Problem Discovery Research
What is an Incentive Author?
An Incentive Author is responsible for sourcing, entering, and authoring incentive data (See Image A). Incentive data is consumed by Cox Automotive *desking tools such as VINSolutions or DMS+.
*A desking tool is dealership software that streamlines sales by calculating and presenting payment options, trade-ins, incentives, and interest rates, enabling quick, accurate deal structuring. Image A - Shows where Incentive Author’s process occurs within the incentive data flow.
Research Plan
I developed a research plan structured around the JTBD framework to attain a solid foundation about our target user’ JTBD and the areas for improvement (See Image B). I reviewed the plan with my product team and presented it at the kick-off with the Incentive Authoring team and leadership.
Image B - This research plan was used to set commitment expectations for each phase.
User Personas and their JTBD
I started by recruiting, scheduling, and interviewing Incentive Authors. I learned about their role, defining their JTBD as: "Providing incentive data to Cox Automotive dealer products." This effort resulted in a refined user persona profile and a draft job map illustrating the job steps (See Image C).
Image C - On the left, a completed user persona profile. On the right, a draft Job Map.
I created a draft job map per interview and combined them into one job map by merging similar steps, grouping them by job steps phases, and formatting them per JTBD “Verb + Object + Contextual Clarifier.
Job Step Example:
User mentions “I log into OneDrive and get the incentive documents” turns to JTBD step “Retrieve incentive data from document storage location”.
JTBD steps are written in away that allows exploration of different solutions to achieve the same outcome.
Refined Job Map and Desired Outcomes
I used the second round of interviews to present the complete Job Map and validate it to ensure accurate capturing of steps. Then, asked participants what they needed to accomplish to complete each step. The needs are written as desired outcomes, reflecting what the Incentive Author seeks to avoid in order achieve the desired outcome.
What are Desired Outcomes?
Desired Outcomes are measurable needs that, when addressed, avoid errors, wasted time, or unpredictability results in the JTBD. Removing waste in the process improves the process, that is the JTBD philosophy.
Desired Outcome Example:
User mentions, “I need to enter incentive data accurately”. I converted it as, “Minimize the likelihood that erroneous incentive data is stored for Cox Auto Products”.
With this conversion, we can measure the number of errors in the data much easier than accuracy.
The Job Map
With the job steps and desired outcomes validated, the Job Map was to be presented to the product team (Image D). The Job Map helped the team visualize the Incentive Author JTBD, the steps, and what needs to be accomplished per step (desired outcomes).
Image D - This Job Map shows the steps needed to complete the job and the desired outcomes at each step. In purple, side jobs needed to complete the main job.
Problem Definition
Importance & Satisfaction Survey
Once finalized, we landed on 49 measurable desired outcomes we could address. However, not all are equal. This is when the Importance / Satisfaction (I/S) survey (See Image E) comes into play. It measures the current importance and satisfaction of the Incentive Authors experience with the desired outcomes. Essentially, it is asking how well the current process meets their needs.
Image E - All 14 Incentive Authors were surveyed, each desired outcome contains an importance and satisfaction question.
The Opportunity Landscape
One of the most compelling aspects of the JTBD framework is its ability to turn qualitative insights into quantifiable data. Survey results were plotted on an Opportunity Map, revealing which Desired Outcomes offered the greatest return on investment (See Image F).
An Opportunity Map categorizes desired outcomes into four areas:
Over-served: Cost-reduction opportunities.
Table Stakes: Essential needs to maintain.
Appropriately Served: No additional value but should not be ignored.
Underserved: High-ROI opportunities.
The Opportunity Map
Image F - On the left, 49 desired outcomes are scored. On the right, the Opportunity Map.
The Results
The I/S survey measured 49 desired outcomes. I used an Excel sheet to calculate, score, and plot each one. Revealing 27 high ROI opportunities. I presented our findings along with the Opportunity Map to leadership. The work eliminated 55% of waste in the Incentive Author process, laying a data-driven foundation for faster, more accurate incentive data in Cox Automotive desking tools.