jobtobedone

Job to be done (JTBD) is a theory and framework for understanding customer needs by focusing on the progress a customer seeks to make in a given circumstance, rather than on the customer’s demographic profile or the attributes of a product. The central idea is that people “hire” products or services to help them complete a specific job, and they “fire” those offerings when better options arise or when the job changes. By identifying the job and the desired outcomes, teams can design solutions that more effectively fit real customer needs.

Originating in the work of Clayton Christensen and colleagues at Harvard Business School in the 1990s, JTBD gained prominence through later publications and practitioners who extended the approach into product development and marketing. A key contribution is the shift from a product-centric view to a problem-centric view, emphasizing the circumstances, motivations, and desired outcomes surrounding a purchase decision. The concept distinguishes between “jobs” (the progress desired by the customer) and the means used to achieve them, which can include products, services, or even skipping the solution entirely.

Core concepts include job statements, job maps, and outcome statements that describe what customers want to accomplish and how they measure success. A common tool is the job-to-be-done map, which traces the steps a customer takes to complete the job, including constraints and decisions. A related method, outcome-driven innovation (ODI), attempts to quantify opportunities by identifying unmet customer outcomes.

Applications span product design, segmentation, positioning, pricing, and marketing. JTBD informs interviewing and ethnographic research, guiding teams to uncover non-obvious needs that conventional market analyses might overlook. Critiques note challenges in operationalization, measurement, and potential overemphasis on a single framing, urging careful methodological execution.