When developing products, it’s easy to get stuck just listening to what customers say and then creating the features they ask for. But what happens when a customer asks for something that isn’t really what they require?
This difference between what users say they want and what they actually need is a common problem. Real innovation comes from figuring out the deeper issues a customer is facing, not just adding features. That is where a customer-focused method makes a difference.
Reuben Nkemjika Obasi, a senior product manager with great empathy and skill in customer research, expertly handles this important point. Reuben is a supporter of the Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) way of thinking. He uses it to look past simple feedback and understand the job a customer is trying to complete, the progress they want to achieve, and the emotional, social, and practical reasons behind their choices.
A key part of how Reuben works involves in-depth customer research. He goes beyond surveys and data dashboards.
His team does many interviews, watching users in real situations to find unspoken needs.
He tries to understand the story behind what a user does, the reasons they start using a product and what makes them switch from one option to another. This type of research shows the why behind what users do, which gives better information than just knowing what they do.
The Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) concept is central to his work. It says that customers don’t just buy products; they hire them to do a task. For example, someone doesn’t just buy a drill; they hire it to make a hole so they can hang a picture.
Reuben tries to know the job, including the practical, emotional, and social needs, in order to create a better solution than just a drill. This concept is needed to find needs that aren’t obvious and that users might not mention in a feedback session.
The Intercom example shows Reuben’s skills well. Intercom began as a simple way to send messages. But after doing JTBD research, they saw that customers weren’t just using the product to chat with users. They really wanted to grow their business by using messaging. This insight caused them to change their platform completely. They added features for automation, customer groups, and data tracking. Instead of just improving the messaging tool, they created a product that solved the customer’s main goal: business growth.
His work shows that creating features based on customer jobs instead of just feedback results in products that are new and winning. Instead of adding a requested feature, Reuben attempts to solve the core job.
By doing this, the solutions he creates are not just small updates but are very helpful and needed for the customer’s future success.
Overall, Reuben Nkemjika Obasi’s work is a great lesson in customer-focused innovation. He is a leader who brings the insight and careful thinking needed to make smart, data-based choices that move a company forward.
He makes sure that the products he creates are both practical and very helpful, which increases customer loyalty and helps the business succeed in the long run, by focusing on what the customer truly needs to achieve.