Jobs to Be Done
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) explains why people choose products. Customers don't buy features — they hire products to make progress in a specific circumstance.
Origins
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) grew from the work of Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business School) and Tony Ulwick (Strategyn) in the 1990s and early 2000s. Christensen popularized the concept in The Innovator’s Dilemma and later in Competing Against Luck (2016, co-authored with Karen Dillon, David Duncan, and Taddy Hall).
The famous milkshake study — where McDonald’s discovered that 40% of milkshakes were sold in the morning to commuters who “hired” them to keep their hands busy and fill them up until lunch — is the canonical illustration of the framework.
The Core Idea
People don’t buy products. They hire products to get a job done.
The “job” is the progress a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance. It’s not the feature or benefit of a product — it’s the underlying motivation that caused someone to look for a solution in the first place.
“When I _____, I want to _____, so I can _____.”
For the milkshake commuter: “When I have a long commute, I want something that keeps me occupied and staves off hunger, so I can arrive at work without having stopped somewhere.” A banana was also considered — but it’s eaten too fast and makes a mess.
Why It Matters for Startups
JTBD reframes competition in a powerful way:
Your real competitors are not just direct substitutes — they’re everything a customer might hire instead of your product. Slack competes with email, walking to someone’s desk, and writing things in a shared doc. Calendly competes with going back and forth on email to find a time.
Understanding the job lets you:
- Identify what customers really value (and what they don’t)
- Find underserved or overserved customer segments
- Craft messaging that speaks to motivation, not features
- Spot opportunities that competitors are missing
The Two Schools of JTBD
Two main interpretations have emerged:
1. Clayton Christensen / Bob Moesta (Narrative)
Focuses on the causal story of switching: what made someone “hire” a new product? What was the “struggling moment” that triggered the search for a solution?
Key concept: the Four Forces of Progress:
- Push of the situation (frustration with current solution)
- Pull toward new solution (appeal of the alternative)
- Anxiety about switching (fear of the unknown)
- Attachment to current habits (inertia)
2. Tony Ulwick (Outcome-Driven Innovation)
More structured and quantitative. Customers have desired outcomes that can be measured and prioritized. Identify outcomes that are both important and underserved — that’s your opportunity space.
| Job Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Functional job | The practical task | ”Edit a document together in real time” |
| Emotional job | How they want to feel | ”Feel in control of my team’s work” |
| Social job | How they want to be perceived | ”Be seen as an organized, modern leader” |
Applying JTBD in Practice
Step 1: Interview Switchers
Talk to recent customers — specifically people who recently switched from a competitor or from doing nothing. Ask:
- What were you doing before this product?
- What was the moment you decided to look for something different?
- What did you try first? Why didn’t it work?
- When did you first hear about us?
- What almost stopped you from switching?
Listen for the struggling moment — the specific event or frustration that triggered the search.
Step 2: Map the Job
Write the job statement in the form:
“Help me [job action] [object of the job] [clarifier/context].”
Example: “Help me keep my team aligned on priorities across multiple time zones without requiring everyone to be in the same meeting.”
Step 3: Identify the Competitors
What else have customers hired (or considered hiring) for this job? This often reveals surprising competition from non-obvious alternatives.
Step 4: Use It in Positioning
Jobs-based positioning focuses on the struggle and progress, not on features:
| Feature-Based Positioning | Jobs-Based Positioning |
|---|---|
| ”Real-time collaboration tool" | "Stop losing work to conflicting edits" |
| "AI writing assistant" | "Get your first draft done without staring at a blank page" |
| "Project management software" | "Know what your team is doing without asking” |
JTBD and Market Segmentation
Traditional segmentation (by age, industry, job title) describes who the customer is but not why they buy. JTBD segments by circumstance and job — which often reveals that very different demographic groups hire the same product for the same job, and that people who look similar on paper hire for completely different reasons.
Limitations
- Time-consuming to do well — requires deep qualitative interviews
- The framework resists quantification; can feel vague without rigorous application
- Not suited for every buying context (impulse purchases, highly habitual behavior)
- Requires skilled interviewers who can avoid leading questions
Key Takeaway
When you understand the job your product is hired to do, you understand what features matter, who your real competition is, and how to talk about your product in a way that resonates. Most product and messaging failures happen because the team optimized for the solution they imagined rather than the job the customer actually needed done.
Start with the job. Build the product around it.