Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)

Snapshot (TL;DR)

What is Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)?

The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory, pioneered by Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, asserts that customers do not buy products; they "hire" them to perform a specific "job".

A "job" is distinct from a mere "problem." While a problem is a situation a user doesn't want to be in, a job requires intentionality—a clear desire to move from a current state "A" to a desired state "B". To have effective demand, the customer must be actively searching for a solution or have an intention to get the task done.

Key definitions

• Job executor: The person who experiences the struggle and decides to "hire" a solution (may differ from payer/admin in B2B).
• Job statement (functional core): Help [actor] [make progress] in/when [circumstance] despite [constraints].
• Job story (format): When ___, I want to ___, so I can ___.
• Desired outcomes (ODI lens): Metrics the customer uses to judge success (speed, effort, reliability, risk, compliance).

Why do Jobs to Be Done matter?

For startup founders, JTBD is the bridge between understanding customer demand and designing products, pricing, and messaging that align with real switching triggers.

• Predictable Demand: A package built around a job taps into a pre-existing stream of demand. As one entrepreneur noted, it is like "holding your cup out—the water was already running".

• Efficiency in Sales: Aligning packaging with specific jobs makes the product instantly understandable to the buyer, which reduces sales cycles and minimizes the need for heavy discounting.

• Portfolio Integrity: Using JTBD prevents the creation of "Monoliths" (overengineered products that deliver too much functionality for most users, leading to under-monetization) and "Hydras" (products that grow in unmanageable complexity because every new feature is spun out as a new module).

Mental model

The Forces of Progress

To understand why a customer "hires" your startup, you must look at the four forces acting on them at the moment of purchase:

1. Push of the Current Situation: The pain of the status quo (e.g., "This spreadsheet is breaking").
2. Pull of the New Solution: The appeal of your product's promise (e.g., "This dashboard looks effortless").
3. Anxiety of the New: Fear of the unknown (e.g., "Will this be hard to learn?").
4. Allegiance to the Old: Habit and inertia (e.g., "I already know how to use my messy spreadsheet").

Rules of thumb

Interview count

Approximately 90% of key customer needs can be identified by conducting just 10–12 in-depth interviews per market segment. (source: The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing)

The Drill/Hole Maxim

"People don't want a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole."

The "Workaround" Rule

If you see people using a tool for something it wasn't intended for (e.g., using Excel as a CRM), there is a massive JTBD opportunity there.

How to Apply It

Inputs you need

• 10–15 recent "hired" or "fired" customers (bought or churned in the last ~90 days)
• A place to observe real work (screenshare, ride-along, session replays) to see where they struggle
• Context notes: team setup, stakes (deadlines/risk), constraints (security/compliance), who approves (B2B)
• Light product data: time-to-first-value, retention, key activation events

Methods

• Unstructured interviews (10–15): Talk to recent buyers and churners; start with the trigger struggle and capture their words.
• Observation: Watch users in their natural workflow to spot friction, workarounds, and hidden constraints.
• Switch interviews: Deep-dive the timeline (first thought → evaluation → decision → onboarding) to surface Push/Pull/Habit/Anxiety.
• Synthesis (fast): Turn notes into Job Statements and a simple Forces map, then translate into product/messaging/onboarding changes.

Risks & anti-patterns (and how to fix them)

References & Links

Sources

• Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016a, September). Know your customers' jobs to be done. Harvard Business Review.
• Christensen, C. M., Dillon, K., Hall, T., & Duncan, D. S. (2016b). Competing against luck: The story of innovation and customer choice. HarperBusiness.
• Ghuman, A., & Pasternak, J. (2021). Price to scale. Paget Publishing.
• Lehrskov-Schmidt, U. (2023). The pricing roadmap. (Self-published).
• Moesta, B., & Dander, G. (2019). Demand-side sales 101: Stop selling and help your customers make progress. Re-Wired Group.
• Ramanujam, M., & Tacke, G. (2016). Monetizing innovation: How smart companies design the product around the price. Wiley.
• Ulwick, A. W. (2005). What customers want from your products. Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 70–82.
• Ulwick, A. W. (2016). Jobs to be done: Theory to practice. Idea Bite Press.

Related pages: Value Metric | Packaging & Bundling | Price Fences | Segmentation | Customer Use Cases | Willingness-to-Pay

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I have a "job" or just a "problem"?

A job has intentionality. If you look at your market and people are already spending money or significant time trying to solve it, it's a job.

Is JTBD just another name for personas?

No. Personas describe who; JTBD explains why now (context + progress + tradeoffs).

Can JTBD work in B2B with multiple stakeholders?

Yes—model executor, buyer, approver separately and map their anxieties (security, risk, budget).

How does JTBD connect to pricing?

Jobs reveal the customer's unit of progress → informs value metric, packaging, and fences; then quantify with WTP research.

Should I put my newest, most advanced features in my highest tier?

Not necessarily. If a feature is essential to solving the specific job of a lower tier, put it there to ensure the customer gets value. Differentiate your tiers by the jobs they solve, not just by feature count.

What's a quick sign we picked the wrong job?

Your "competition" list looks narrow (only direct rivals) and your messaging is feature-heavy rather than outcome/constraint-driven.