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01 · Category

What the MCP returns at this step

59 · Business · Customer Research

Jobs-to-Be-Done

Frames customer progress, switching behavior and unmet needs for research and product decisions.

jobs-to-be-donecustomer-discoveryswitching-behaviorproduct-market-fitinterviewskundenforschungkundenbeduerfnisproduktstrategie

Jobs-to-Be-Done · Original SKILL.md

---
name: jobs-to-be-done
description: 'Discover what customers truly need by analyzing the "job" they hire your product to do. Use when the user mentions "customer discovery", "why customers churn", "what job does this solve", "competing against luck", "product-market fit", "switching behavior", "milkshake moment", or "functional vs emotional jobs". Also trigger when investigating why users choose competitors, designing features around real customer needs, or reframing a value proposition. Covers JTBD interviews, competition analysis, and jobs-oriented roadmaps. For product positioning, see obviously-awesome. For rapid validation, see design-sprint. For non-leading interview technique, see mom-test.'
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: wondelai
  version: "1.5.0"
---

# Jobs to Be Done Framework

Framework for discovering innovation based on a fundamental truth: customers don't buy products -- they "hire" them to do a specific job in their lives.

## Core Principle

**Job to Be Done** = the progress a customer wants to make in specific circumstances.

Key elements of the definition:
- **Progress** (not goal, not solution) -- the customer wants to move from the current state to a better one
- **Circumstances** -- context determines the job, not customer attributes (demographics are useless)
- **Hiring/Firing** -- the customer actively chooses a product for the "job"

## Scoring

**Goal: 10/10.** Score 1 point per satisfied row in the Quick Diagnostic (7 rows) plus up to 3 points for depth: +1 if all three job dimensions are evidenced, +1 if the job statement avoids any product/solution name, +1 if competition includes non-consumption. Bands: **9-10** = job stated without the product, all four forces mapped, three dimensions evidenced, non-obvious competition and Little Hire tracked; **5-6** = job named but one or two diagnostic rows fail (usually missing forces or emotional/social dimensions); **<=3** = product-first framing, demographic segmentation, or Pull-only thinking. Always state the current score and the specific diagnostic rows to fix.

## Three Dimensions of Every Job

Every job has three inseparable dimensions -- omitting any means failure:

| Dimension | Question | Example (milkshake) |
|-----------|----------|---------------------|
| **Functional** | What does the customer need to do? | Occupy myself during a boring commute |
| **Emotional** | How do they want to feel? | Have a small treat for myself |
| **Social** | How do they want to be perceived? | As a sensible parent (not buying donuts) |

## Framework

### 1. The Job Statement

**Core concept:** A job statement captures the progress a customer seeks in a specific circumstance, in a structured format separating context, desired progress, and expected outcome.

**Why it works:** Because jobs are stable while solutions churn, anchoring on the job protects a roadmap from chasing features that the next technology shift makes irrelevant.

**Key insights:**
- Format: "When [circumstances], I want to [progress], so I can [outcome]"
- Circumstances matter more than demographics -- the same person has different jobs in different situations
- A well-written job statement never mentions your product or any specific solution
- Jobs are stable over time; solutions change but the underlying job persists

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| New product ideation | Define the job before brainstorming features | "When I'm commuting alone, I want something to occupy me and satisfy hunger, so I'm not hungry until lunch" |
| Feature prioritization | Evaluate whether a feature serves the core job | Features that advance the stated job beat nice-to-haves |
| Positioning & messaging | Use job statement language in copy | Lead with circumstance and progress, not product specs |

**Copy patterns:**
- "When you're [circumstance], you need [progress] -- that's exactly what [product] does"
- Lead with the situation the customer recognizes, not the product category
- Mirror the emotional and social dimensions alongside the functional one

See [references/innovation-process.md](references/innovation-process.md) when running an innovation project end-to-end -- the job-hunting methodology, the job atlas, and fill-in statement templates.

### 2. Forces of Progress (Push, Pull, Anxiety, Habit)

**Core concept:** The decision to "hire" a new product results from four forces: Push (frustration with the current situation), Pull (attraction of the new solution), Anxiety (fear of the new), and Habit (comfort with the current behavior). Change happens only when Push + Pull > Habit + Anxiety.

**Why it works:** Most innovation efforts only increase Pull while ignoring the anti-change forces -- which is why great products still fail to gain adoption.

**Key insights:**
- Push: "this annoys me"; Pull: "I want this"; Habit: "I've always done it this way"; Anxiety: "what if it doesn't work?"
- Reducing anxiety and habit is often more effective than increasing push and pull
- Passive seekers (vaguely aware of a problem) are easier to influence than active seekers who already have criteria

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| Onboarding design | Reduce anxiety with trials, guarantees, social proof | Money-back guarantee answers "what if it doesn't work?" |
| Switching campaigns | Make migration effortless to defeat habit | One-click data import from competitor |
| Content marketing | Awaken push in passive seekers by naming the frustration | "5 signs your current tool is costing you hours every week" |

**Copy patterns:**
- Address anxiety directly: "No lock-in, cancel anytime, your data is always yours"
- Name the push: "Tired of [frustration]? There's a better way"
- Reduce habit friction: "Switch in 5 minutes -- we import everything automatically"

See [references/competitive-strategy.md](references/competitive-strategy.md) when mapping competitors or writing positioning -- forces analysis, the non-obvious-competition tables, and the jobs-based positioning formula with worked examples.

### 3. The Big Hire & Little Hire

**Core concept:** Two distinct decision moments: the Big Hire (purchase/signup, happens once) and the Little Hire (decision to use in the moment, happens repeatedly). Winning the Big Hire does not guarantee the Little Hire.

**Why it works:** Many products win the sale but lose the customer because they optimize only the purchase decision -- understanding both moments reveals where retention problems truly originate.

**Key insights:**
- Big Hire is driven by marketing, onboarding, and first impressions; Little Hire by product quality, UX, and ongoing value
- Big Hire anxiety is purchase risk; Little Hire anxiety is effort and learning curves
- Retention problems are almost always Little Hire failures -- purchased but never used

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| Retention analysis | Separate Big Hire from Little Hire metrics | Track "first use after signup" and "weekly active usage" apart from signup conversion |
| Product design | Optimize repeated usage, not just first impressions | Reduce daily-workflow friction even when onboarding is smooth |
| Customer success | Monitor Little Hire signals to predict churn | Declining usage frequency signals upcoming churn |

**Copy patterns:**
- Big Hire copy sells the promise: "Transform how you [job]"
- Little Hire copy sells ease: "One click and you're done"
- Re-engagement copy addresses the failure: "We've made [specific friction] easier"

See [references/case-studies.md](references/case-studies.md) when you need a worked precedent to reason from -- full Big Hire / Little Hire breakdowns of SNHU, American Girl, and Intuit.

### 4. Competitive Landscape (Non-Obvious Competition)

**Core concept:** True competition is everything a customer can "hire" for the same job, often from completely different categories. Competitors are defined by the job, not by industry classification.

**Why it works:** Category-based analysis creates blind spots: a milkshake competes with bananas, bagels, and podcasts; Netflix competes with TikTok, sleep, and family conversation. Mapping the full landscape around the job reveals threats and opportunities traditional analysis misses.

**Key insights:**
- Non-consumption (doing nothing) is often the biggest competitor
- Workarounds and compensating behaviors reveal unserved jobs -- people hack, combine, and improvise
- Integrate where performance is "not good enough" for the job; modularize where it's "good enough"
- The best positioning answers "what job are we the best hire for?", not "how do we compare to similar products?"

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| Competitive analysis | Map all hires for the same job across categories | A PM tool competes with spreadsheets, sticky notes, email, and memory |
| Positioning strategy | Position against the real alternative | Position against "doing it manually", not a named competitor |
| Pricing strategy | Price against the job's value | If the job saves 10 hours/week, price against that time, not similar SaaS |

**Copy patterns:**
- "Stop using [workaround] for [job] -- there's a purpose-built solution"
- "You wouldn't hire a [bad fit] to [job] -- so why are you using [current hack]?"
- Position around the job outcome, not feature comparison charts

### 5. Customer Discovery Interviews

**Core concept:** Don't ask customers "what do you need" -- they don't know. Instead, reconstruct the purchase timeline (first thought, search, purchase, usage) to uncover the real job.

**Why it works:** Customers rationalize decisions after the fact and can't articulate latent needs; walking backward through concrete events reveals the true circumstances, forces, and tradeoffs that drove behavior.

**Key insights:**
- First thought: "When did you first look for a solution? What was happening in your life? What frustrated you?"
- Search: "What alternatives did you consider? What eliminated options? Who did you talk to?"
- Purchase: "Where were you? What ultimately convinced you? What were you afraid of?"
- Usage: "Is it doing what you expected? What surprised you? What's still missing?"
- Signals of undiscovered jobs: workarounds, non-consumption, compensating behaviors, negative emotions toward current solutions
- Ask only about past events, never hypotheticals ("would you...", "do you wish...") -- a question that names your solution or a benefit leads the subject and produces confirmation, not discovery

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| New market entry | Interview recent switchers | Reconstruct what pushed them away and pulled them in |
| Churn reduction | Interview churned customers on their timeline | Was it Big Hire (wrong expectations) or Little Hire (poor daily experience)? |
| Feature discovery | Interview customers using workarounds | Spreadsheets alongside your product reveal an unmet job dimension |

**Copy patterns:**
- Use exact customer language from interviews in marketing copy
- "We heard you say [verbatim quote] -- so we built [feature]"
- Frame benefits in the circumstances and emotions customers actually described

### 6. Designing for the Job

**Core concept:** Build the entire experience -- features, metrics, organization -- around helping the customer accomplish their job, not around internal capabilities or feature parity.

**Why it works:** When every decision answers "will this help the customer better accomplish their job?", teams avoid feature bloat and build coherent products; if you can't answer it, you don't understand the job yet.

**Key insights:**
- Replace customer satisfaction metrics with "did the job get done?"
- Replace NPS with "reasons for hiring and firing"; replace feature usage with "progress on the job"
- Organize teams and processes around jobs, not internal capabilities or product components

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| Metrics design | Measure job completion | "Time from problem to resolution", not "features used per session" |
| Product roadmap | Prioritize across job dimensions | A functional fix that ignores the emotional dimension may not move the needle |
| Organizational alignment | Structure teams around jobs | A "morning commute job" team owns content, packaging, and distribution |

**Copy patterns:**
- "Built for [the job], not for [the category]"
- "Everything you need to [job] -- nothing you don't"
- Emphasize outcome and progress, not features and specifications

See [references/organizational-change.md](references/organizational-change.md) when adoption is the bottleneck rather than the analysis -- escaping the feature-factory trap, winning executive buy-in, and managing the change.

## Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Why It Fails | Fix |
|---------|-------------|-----|
| Defining jobs narrowly around your product | Misses the real competitive landscape | Define the job from the customer's perspective, never mentioning your product |
| Ignoring emotional and social dimensions | Functional-only jobs miss why customers choose and stay | Always complete all three dimensions |
| Confusing jobs with goals or tasks | Goals too abstract ("be healthy"), tasks too specific ("click button") | Jobs = progress in specific circumstances |
| Only increasing Pull | Great products fail when switching costs and fear stay high | Map all four forces; design interventions for Anxiety and Habit |
| Winning the Big Hire, ignoring the Little Hire | High acquisition, high churn -- purchased but never used | Track and optimize repeated usage separately from purchase |
| Asking customers "what do you want?" | Rationalization and incremental feature requests | Use timeline-based interviews reconstructing actual behavior |
| Defining competition by category | Blind spots from adjacent categories and non-consumption | Map every alternative hire for the job, including doing nothing |

## Quick Diagnostic

| Question | If No | Action |
|----------|-------|--------|
| Can you state the job in one sentence without mentioning your product? | Product-focused, not job-focused | Write: "When [circumstances], I want to [progress], so I can [outcome]" |
| Have you mapped all four forces? | Over-investing in Pull, ignoring barriers | Design specific interventions for Anxiety and Habit |
| Do you know the emotional and social dimensions? | May win functionally but lose on experience | Run discovery interviews on feelings and social context |
| Have you identified non-obvious competitors? | Competitive blind spots | List everything hireable for the job, including non-consumption |
| Are you tracking Little Hire separately from Big Hire? | Can't tell acquisition problems from retention problems | Separate purchase-conversion and repeated-usage metrics |
| Can your team explain how each feature serves the job? | Building without strategic grounding | Require proposals to name the job dimension served |
| Have you interviewed customers about their purchase timeline? | Job understanding based on assumptions | Run 10+ interviews reconstructing first-thought-to-usage |

When the inline Quick Diagnostic above is not enough -- you are diagnosing a *symptom* (low signups, high churn, "used wrong") or need JTBD-specific metrics -- see [references/diagnostics.md](references/diagnostics.md): the "why aren't they buying" symptom table, churn-pattern tables, and traditional-vs-JTBD metric swaps.

## Further Reading

For the complete methodology, case studies, and deeper insights:

- [*"Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice"*](https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612?tag=wondelai00-20) by Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan

## About the Author

**Clayton M. Christensen** (1952-2020) was the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, best known for the theory of disruptive innovation introduced in *The Innovator's Dilemma* (1997). He developed Jobs to Be Done as a practical innovation methodology in *Competing Against Luck* (2016) and was repeatedly ranked the world's #1 management thinker by Thinkers50.

When to use

Frames customer progress, switching behavior and unmet needs for research and product decisions.

What you get

The complete original framework with its attribution, declared license and M11 routing limits.

How it works

Establish the actual context and evidence, apply the framework, then separate recommendations from decisions that need an accountable owner.

Requirements

Research question, actual customer evidence, consented inputs, sample limits and product owner.

Delivery and review notes

Original documentation is published by Wondel.ai sp. z o.o. under the repository MIT license at the pinned revision. Its cited books and named frameworks are not reproduced or relicensed by M11; the unchanged upstream document is the supplied source. The content is planning guidance only: validate claims, benchmarks, pricing, market facts and legal/commercial decisions against current evidence. Loading it does not authorize outreach, purchases, data collection, publishing, account changes or other external action.

Starting prompt

Use Jobs-to-Be-Done for [TASK]. First establish Research question, actual customer evidence, consented inputs, sample limits and product owner. Separate known facts from assumptions and return a bounded plan with open questions. Do not claim validation, authorization, execution or current benchmarks without evidence.

Not for

Inventing customer insight, presenting hypotheses as validated research or contacting people automatically.

What M11 added

M11 added German discovery terms, flat public routing and scope limits. Original documentation is published by Wondel.ai sp. z o.o. under the repository MIT license at the pinned revision. Its cited books and named frameworks are not reproduced or relicensed by M11; the unchanged upstream document is the supplied source. The content is planning guidance only: validate claims, benchmarks, pricing, market facts and legal/commercial decisions against current evidence. Loading it does not authorize outreach, purchases, data collection, publishing, account changes or other external action.

Original authorship remains with wondelai/skills · Original source ↗

Original license & copyright

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Wondel.ai sp. z o.o.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.

Source SHA-256: cc227aa837bda4ae0910324e52a90d338354501d005f7ef2fbd0cff9fd73aaf1
Snapshot checked: 2026-09-28T17:34:39.899Z

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