BYD TechThe short answer
Jobs to be done, or JTBD, is the idea that customers "hire" a product to make progress in a particular situation, and "fire" it when something does the job better. Popularized by Clayton Christensen, it shifts attention from who the customer is to what they are trying to get done, and why. For a founder, it explains who your real competitors are, which features matter, and how to describe your product in the customer’s own words.
Key points
- Customers hire products to make progress in a situation.
- The job has functional, social and emotional sides.
- Your competition is whatever else does the job, including doing nothing.
- Interview recent buyers about the moment they decided to switch.
- Write the job as a statement and build the MVP around it.
The idea
In a 2016 Harvard Business Review article, Clayton Christensen and colleagues argued that companies know more about customers than ever, yet innovation stays hit-or-miss, because they focus on customer characteristics and product features instead of the job the customer is trying to do. The Christensen Institute describes JTBD as a lens on the circumstances and pressures behind a choice.
The milkshake story
The best-known example: a fast-food chain found that many milkshakes were bought early in the morning by commuters. They were hiring the milkshake to make a long, boring drive more bearable and keep them full until lunch. Its morning competition was not other milkshakes but bananas and bagels.
Finding the job
- Talk to people who recently started using a solution, yours or another, or recently switched.
- Ask about the moment: what was happening when they started looking?
- Ask what they tried before, and what they gave up.
- Ask what almost stopped them.
- Listen for the progress they wanted, in their own words.
See How to conduct user interviews for how to keep questions about past behavior rather than opinions.
Using it for an MVP
| Use | How |
|---|---|
| Job statement | When (situation), I want to (motivation), so I can (outcome) |
| Scope | Build only what gets the job done; cut what does not |
| Competition | List everything people hire for the job today, including spreadsheets and doing nothing |
| Messaging | Describe the progress, in customers’ words, on your landing page |
| Metrics | Measure whether users make that progress, not just whether they sign up |
JTBD fits naturally with How to validate a startup idea and How to prioritize features. Turning a clear job into a focused first product is MVP development.
Sources
Checked when this guide was written.
