Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)
What It Is
Jobs-to-be-Done is a framework for understanding customer motivation. The core insight: people don't buy products, they hire them to make progress in their lives.
When someone buys a product, they're not buying features or benefits—they're hiring that product to do a job. Understanding that job unlocks everything: positioning, messaging, feature prioritization, and competitive strategy.
The key shift: Move from asking "What do customers want?" to asking "What progress are customers trying to make?"
When to Use It
Use JTBD when you need to:
- Understand why customers buy (not just what they buy)
- Discover your true competitive set (often not who you think)
- Find product-market fit for a new product or feature
- Improve positioning and messaging that resonates
- Reduce churn by understanding why customers leave
- Prioritize your roadmap based on real customer progress
- Identify new market opportunities through struggling moments
When Not to Use It
- There's no real customer choice (e.g., employer-mandated software)
- The purchase is pure habit with no conscious decision
- You want to validate a hypothesis you've already decided on
Patterns
Detailed examples showing how to apply JTBD correctly. Each pattern shows a common mistake and the correct approach.
Critical (get these wrong and you've wasted your time)
| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---|---|
| interview-asking-why | Don't ask "why did you buy" — ask "walk me through what happened" |
| job-statement-too-broad | "Save time" is useless — needs context + motivation + outcome |
| missing-forces | Analyze all four forces, not just Push and Pull |
| interviewing-prospects | Only interview people who already switched |
| conference-room-jtbd | You can't hypothesize jobs without talking to customers |
High Impact
| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---|---|
| wrong-competitors | Your real competitors are what customers do instead |
| clustering-vs-segmenting | Find pathways, don't segment by demographics |
| complaints-arent-jobs | "Bitching ain't switching" — complaints don't predict action |
| reducing-friction | Sometimes lowering anxiety beats adding features |
| context-changes-everything | Same person, different context = different job |
| getting-past-pablum | First answers are generic — push 2-3 questions deeper |
| milkshake-story | The classic example: same product, multiple jobs |
Medium Impact
| Pattern | What It Teaches |
|---|---|
| three-energies | Address Functional, Emotional, and Social — all three matter |
| following-power-users | Power users will lead you away from what scales |
Deep Dives
Read only when you need extra detail.
references/jobs-to-be-done-playbook.md: Expanded framework detail, checklists, and examples.
Resources
Books:
- Demand-Side Sales by Bob Moesta — the tactical method
- Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen — the theory
- When Coffee and Kale Compete by Alan Klement — accessible introduction
Other:
- Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss — interview techniques that complement JTBD research
- The End of Average by Todd Rose — why demographic segmentation fails