jobs-to-be-done

Jobs to Be Done

People don't buy products. They hire them to make progress in their lives.

Core Concept

A "job" is the progress a user is trying to make in a particular circumstance. Jobs are stable over time — solutions change, jobs don't.

Job Statement Format

Use this precise format for every job:

When [situation/trigger], I want to [motivation/action], so I can [desired outcome].

Examples:

• "When a production alert fires at 2am, I want to identify the root cause in under 5 minutes, so I can restore service before customers notice."
• "When I'm onboarding a new team member, I want to share our API patterns in a self-serve way, so I can avoid being a bottleneck."

Discovery Process

Using the personas and problem brief from prior phases, ask ONE AT A TIME:

1. Trigger: "What specific moment or event causes [persona] to reach for a solution?"

2. Functional Job: "What is the core task they need to accomplish?"

3. Emotional Job: "How do they want to FEEL during and after this task?"

   • Offer examples: Confident / In control / Relieved / Proud / Safe / Not anxious

4. Social Job: "How do they want to be PERCEIVED by others in this context?"

   • Offer examples: Competent / Innovative / Reliable / Thorough / Fast

5. Outcome Expectations: "How would they know they succeeded? What does 'done well' look like?"

Job Map

For the primary job, break it down into stages:

## Job Map: [Primary Job Statement]

| Stage | User Action | Pain Points | Opportunities |
|-------|-------------|-------------|---------------|
| 1. Define | What triggers the need | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 2. Locate | Finding the right tool/info | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 3. Prepare | Setting up to do the job | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 4. Confirm | Validating approach | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 5. Execute | Doing the core task | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 6. Monitor | Tracking progress | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 7. Resolve | Handling issues | [current friction] | [how we could help] |
| 8. Conclude | Finishing and verifying | [current friction] | [how we could help] |

Not all stages apply to every job. Skip stages that don't fit.

Competing Solutions

For each job, identify what users currently "hire" to do it:

## Competing Solutions for: [Job Statement]

| Solution | Strengths | Weaknesses | Switching Cost |
|----------|-----------|------------|----------------|
| [current tool/process] | [what it does well] | [where it fails] | [effort to switch] |

Prioritization

After mapping jobs, ask:

"Which of these jobs is MOST underserved today? Where is the gap between what users need and what exists biggest?"

Rate each job on two dimensions:

• Importance: How critical is this job to the user? (1-10)
• Satisfaction: How well do current solutions serve this job? (1-10)

Opportunity Score = Importance + (Importance - Satisfaction)

High opportunity = high importance + low satisfaction.

Output

Produce a structured JTBD summary:

## Jobs to Be Done Summary

### Primary Job
**Statement**: When [situation], I want to [action], so I can [outcome].
**Importance**: [1-10]
**Current Satisfaction**: [1-10]
**Opportunity Score**: [calculated]

**Functional**: [what they need to DO]
**Emotional**: [how they need to FEEL]
**Social**: [how they need to be SEEN]

### Secondary Jobs
[same format, for 1-3 additional jobs]

### Key Insight
[one sentence: what is the biggest unmet need?]