Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework that reframes customer behavior as "people hire a product to make progress on a specific job in their life." Instead of asking who customers are, JTBD asks what job they're trying to get done and why they switched from the old solution.

Why It Matters

Popularized by Clayton Christensen's milkshake study at Harvard, JTBD explains switching behavior that demographics and personas miss. The classic insight: morning milkshake buyers weren't "dads aged 30–45" — they were commuters hiring a milkshake to make a boring drive less dull and keep them full until lunch. Knowing the job lets you out-compete alternatives (bananas, bagels, boredom) instead of just other milkshakes.

JTBD vs Personas

Aspect	Personas	Jobs to Be Done
Unit	Who the customer is	What progress they want
Stability	Changes with demographics	Stable across decades
Competitive set	Same-category products	Any alternative for the same job
Output	Segmentation	Switching triggers and unmet needs

Personas describe; jobs explain. Most teams use both — personas for messaging, jobs for product and positioning.

The Three Dimensions of a Job

Functional: The practical task (file my taxes, get to work).

Emotional: How the customer wants to feel while doing it (confident, unworried, competent).

Social: How they want to be perceived by others (responsible, savvy, caring).

Great products address all three. "Turbo Tax" wins functionally; "feels safe" and "I'm responsible" win the emotional and social layers.

The Switch Interview

The core JTBD research technique. Interview customers who recently switched to your product and reconstruct a timeline:

1. First thought: When did they first realize the old solution wasn't working?
2. Passive looking: What triggered active consideration?
3. Active looking: What did they compare?
4. Deciding moment: What tipped them over?
5. Consumption: How did it actually go after purchase?

Four forces shape the decision: push of the current situation, pull of the new solution, anxiety about change, and habit of the present.

Writing a Job Statement

Template: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].

Example: "When I'm publishing a company blog post, I want to preview how it will look in search results, so I can avoid awkward titles going live."

Good job statements are solution-agnostic — they don't mention your product.

Common Mistakes

Writing features as jobs: "Uses our dashboard" is not a job.

Too narrow: "Click the export button" is a task, not a job.

Too broad: "Grow the business" is a goal, not a job.

Ignoring emotional and social dimensions: B2B buyers care about looking competent to their boss. Skipping that misses half the decision.

Sources:

• Know Your Customers' Jobs to Be Done - HBR
• The Jobs to Be Done Playbook - Intercom
• Jobs-to-be-Done Framework - Christensen Institute