jobs-to-be-done

name	jobs-to-be-done
description	Use when asked to "jobs to be done", "JTBD", "why customers churn", "prep for customer interviews", "hire and fire products", or "find real competitors". Helps discover unmet needs and the context behind purchasing decisions. The Jobs to be Done framework (created by Clayton Christensen and Bob Moesta) explains why customers hire and fire products.

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