jobs-to-be-done

name	jobs-to-be-done
argument-hint	[customer segment or product]
description	Uncover customer jobs, pains, and gains in a structured JTBD format. Use when clarifying unmet needs, repositioning a product, or improving discovery and messaging.
intent	Systematically explore what customers are trying to accomplish (functional, social, emotional jobs), the pains they experience, and the gains they seek. Use this framework to uncover unmet needs, validate product ideas, and ensure your solution addresses real motivations—not just surface-level feature requests.
type	component
theme	discovery-research
best_for	["Clarifying what customers actually hire your product to do","Repositioning a product around unmet needs rather than features","Turning fuzzy user feedback into structured jobs, pains, and gains"]
scenarios	["Customers keep asking for features that don't fit our roadmap — what job are they hiring us for?","We're repositioning and need to understand the unmet needs behind the switching behavior"]
estimated_time	20-30 min

Purpose

Systematically explore what customers are trying to accomplish (functional, social, emotional jobs), the pains they experience, and the gains they seek. Use this framework to uncover unmet needs, validate product ideas, and ensure your solution addresses real motivations—not just surface-level feature requests.

This is not a survey—it's a structured lens for understanding why customers "hire" your product and what would make them "fire" it.

Input

Works best with: The customer segment (or product whose customers) you're analyzing. Also useful: Interview notes, support tickets, or research to mine for jobs, pains, and gains; the situation or trigger you care about.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

Arriving empty-handed? That works too. The skill asks who the customer is and what progress they're trying to make before structuring the JTBD breakdown.

Example invocation: Run JTBD for freelance designers using our invoicing tool — here are 6 interview summaries.

Key Concepts

The Jobs-to-be-Done Framework

Influenced by Clayton Christensen and the Value Proposition Canvas (Osterwalder), JTBD breaks customer needs into three categories:

1. Customer Jobs:

• Functional jobs: Tasks customers need to perform (e.g., "send an invoice")
• Social jobs: How customers want to be perceived (e.g., "look professional to clients")
• Emotional jobs: Emotional states customers seek or avoid (e.g., "feel confident in my work")

2. Pains:

• Challenges: Obstacles customers face
• Costliness: What's too expensive in time, money, or effort
• Common mistakes: Errors customers make that could be prevented
• Unresolved problems: Gaps in current solutions

3. Gains:

• Expectations: What would exceed current solutions
• Savings: Time, money, or effort reductions that delight
• Adoption factors: What increases likelihood of switching
• Life improvement: How a solution makes life easier or more enjoyable