Home / Phase-1 / Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
Phase 1
Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework
JTBD flips the lens from products and personas to the progress a customer is trying to make in a given situation—the “job.” When teams align research, strategy, and delivery to that job, innovation stops being guesswork. In this module you’ll learn the JTBD theory, the job map, how to write outcome-based needs, and how to turn them into growth strategies and roadmaps. You’ll also get templates, interview guides, and a lightweight quant method to prioritize unmet needs. By the end, you’ll be able to connect your TAM/SAM/SOM, competitive insights, and personas to the one anchor that doesn’t change: the job.
JTBD in One Page
Core Idea: People don’t “buy products”; they hire solutions to get a job done (make progress) in a context.
Why it works: Technologies and categories change; the underlying job is stable (e.g., “enjoy music on the go” outlives cassettes→CDs→MP3→streaming).
Your mandate: Stop defining markets by product, tech, or demographic. Define them as “a group of people trying to get a job done.”
Winning definition: You win when you help customers get the job done better and/or cheaper across the entire job—not just one step.
The JTBD Needs System (Who/What/How)
The 3 Customer Roles
Job Executor
The user doing the core functional job.
Product Lifecycle Support
People who install, maintain, repair, and upgrade.
Buyer/Decision-Maker
People who approve or fund the purchase.
The 5 Job Types You Must Consider
Core Functional Job
e.g., “analyze marketing performance”
Related Jobs
e.g., “gather data,” “share insights”
Emotional/Social Jobs
e.g., “look competent to leadership”
Consumption Chain Jobs
e.g., install, configure, learn, maintain
Purchase Decision Job
e.g., evaluate, justify, select
Job Mapping: See the Whole Job
A job map describes what the customer is trying to accomplish—independent of today’s tools—typically across these universal stages: