customer-discovery-jtbd-synthesis

name	customer-discovery-jtbd-synthesis
description	Turn interview notes, assumptions, or market context into customer discovery findings, jobs-to-be-done synthesis, and actionable product/GTM recommendations.
argument-hint	["product-or-interview-set"]

Customer Discovery + JTBD Synthesis

Use this skill when the user wants to turn messy customer research into structured insights about problems, motivations, switching triggers, and recommended actions.

What this skill must produce

Always produce:

1. Research objective
2. Customer segments
3. JTBD synthesis
4. Switching / buying forces
5. Job stories
6. Insight summary
7. Implications for product
8. Implications for marketing / sales
9. Open questions / next interviews

Inputs to gather

Use any provided:

• interview notes / transcripts
• survey responses
• founder assumptions
• support tickets
• sales calls
• win/loss notes
• persona docs
• feature requests

If actual research is absent, create a discovery plan and a provisional synthesis from assumptions.

Working rules

• Focus on the problem and progress the customer seeks, not requested features.
• Treat people as experts in their problem, not the solution.
• Distinguish what they want from why it matters.
• Look for the switching moment and the forces around it.
• Capture situations, motivations, and outcomes in job-story form.
• Keep outputs concise enough for product and GTM teams to actually use.

Step-by-step method

Step 1: define the research objective

State what decision this discovery is meant to inform.

Step 2: segment the customers

Cluster participants into meaningful groups based on problem shape, context, and buying situation.

Step 3: extract the job

For each segment identify:

• functional job
• emotional job
• social job
• success criteria
• obstacles / anxieties

Step 4: identify switching forces

Capture:

• push of the situation
• pull of the new solution
• habit of the old solution
• anxieties of the new solution

Step 5: convert to job stories

Write job stories in this structure:

When [situation]
I want to [motivation]
so I can [desired outcome].

Step 6: extract implications

Translate into product, onboarding, messaging, sales, and pricing implications.

Output structure

Research objective

• Decision to inform:
• Source material reviewed:
• Confidence level:

Customer segments

Segment	Distinguishing traits	Main job

JTBD synthesis

For each segment provide:

• Functional job:
• Emotional job:
• Social job:
• Desired progress:
• Current workaround:
• Main obstacle:

Switching / buying forces

Segment	Push	Pull	Habit	Anxiety

Job stories

Provide 3-8 job stories total.

Insight summary

• Repeated pain themes:
• Strongest motivations:
• Surprising contradictions:
• What customers call the problem:
• What they are really comparing against:

Implications for product

• onboarding implications
• feature / workflow implications
• packaging implications
• activation implications

Implications for marketing / sales

• positioning implications
• message / copy implications
• proof needed
• objection handling
• sales discovery questions to add

Open questions / next interviews

List the top unanswered questions and the next interview targets.

If there are no interview notes yet

Produce:

• a discovery plan
• target participant profiles
• 15-20 interview questions
• a synthesis template to fill after interviews

Interview questions must prioritize:

• recent switching moments
• prior solutions
• why the old way became insufficient
• what almost stopped the switch
• what success looks like