Jobs to Be Done
The framework was developed mainly by Clayton Christensen (Competing Against Luck, 2016) and Tony Ulwick. The phrase that encapsulates the concept comes from Theodore Levitt: "Customers don't want a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole."
The "hiring" metaphor
When a person "hires" a product, they do so to help them get a job done in a specific context. That job has:
- Functional dimension: I want the transaction to be fast.
- Emotional dimension: I want to feel secure.
- Social dimension: I want to look organized in front of my team.
The same job can be satisfied by very different solutions: WhatsApp, email, and an in-person meeting all compete for the same job of "keeping me coordinated with my team."
The job story, the most widely used format
The template most commonly used by product teams to articulate a "job" is the job story:
When [situation or context], I want to [motivation or goal], so that [expected outcome or benefit].
It was conceived by Paul Adams at Intercom and named by Alan Klement in 2013. It is useful to supplement it with the alternative the person currently uses to get that job done, as this sets the bar that any solution must surpass.
Example: "When I'm reviewing the Sprint Backlog before Sprint Planning, I want to see which stories have incomplete acceptance criteria, so that I don't arrive at the meeting with work we can't commit to."
Two schools
Under the banner of JTBD, two schools of thought coexist, each employing different tools.
- The approach developed by Clayton Christensen and Bob Moesta defines a "job" as the progress an individual seeks to make in a specific set of circumstances; it explores this by reconstructing the process through which the person arrived at a new solution.
- The approach associated with Tony Ulwick—known as Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI)—frames a "job" as a verb paired with an object, and it measures the specific outcomes a customer desires. The "job story" template belongs to the former tradition.
JTBD in product discovery
In product discovery, JTBD is the tool for framing the problem correctly:
- It helps separate the symptom (what the user asks for) from the root cause (the job they need to get done).
- It opens up the solution space: once the job is defined, multiple solutions can address it.
- It makes it possible to compare competitors in terms of which job they solve, not which features they have.
Common mistake
Writing a JTBD that already prescribes the solution. "When I review the backlog, I want a filter by acceptance criteria status" is not a JTBD: it is a technical requirement disguised as a job. The job should describe the motivation without imposing the implementation. If the wording already specifies how it should be solved, the opportunity to explore better alternatives is lost.
Resources
🏦 Skill Design ThinkingState of the art and development guide · Skill Arena
🏦 Product discovery and customer validationState of the art and development guide · Skill Arena
References
- Christensen, Clayton M.; Hall, Taddy; Dillon, Karen; Duncan, David S. (2016). Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice. Harper Business.
See also
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