Jobs to be Done
People don't buy products. They hire them to make progress in a specific moment of their life.
Why PMs should care
JTBD changes what you pay attention to. Instead of describing users as types ('tech-savvy millennial investor'), you describe the moment they're in and the progress they're trying to make. The same person uses LinkedIn for three completely different jobs: to calm job-hunting anxiety at 11pm, to look good after a promotion, to research competitors on a Monday morning. Same user, three different products in their head.
A clean job statement has a shape you can test: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome].
The hard part is resisting the urge to describe the user and instead describing the moment. If your job statement is vague enough to describe three different products, keep narrowing until it points at only one.
Example in product work
The trading app subscriber. A user didn't subscribe to a trading app because they're 'a 28-year-old male with moderate financial literacy'. They hired it because: 'When I see a colleague casually mention their Tesla position over lunch, I want a frictionless way to buy a small amount of the same thing before the day ends, so I can feel I'm in the same conversation tomorrow.' That job demands same-day funding, a search bar that works on 'Tesla' not 'TSLA', fractional shares under £10, and a post-purchase moment the user can screenshot. That's a completely different spec — and different acquisition channel — than what a 'retail investor persona' would have produced.
Nike vs Reebok, 1988. The most famous JTBD shift in consumer branding is Nike. In 1987, Reebok led Nike in US athletic footwear, and most of the industry was selling shoes on comfort, cushioning, and fit — specs. Nike's 'Just Do It' campaign launched in 1988 and deliberately stopped selling shoes. It sold a job: 'when I want to stop making excuses about exercise, I hire Nike to make me feel I'm someone who acts.' The product was roughly the same. The job was different. Within ten years Nike had tripled its market share, and Reebok — still competing on better cushioning and more ergonomic fits — was left with the 'shoes as product' game. Same footwear. Completely different unit of analysis.
What to do when you see it
- Focus on the situation a user is in, not the type of person they are.
- A good job statement sounds like: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome].
- The same person hires different products for different jobs — sometimes on the same day.
- If your job statement could describe three different products, it's not specific enough yet.
Sources & further reading
- Know Your Customers' Jobs to Be Done — HBR, Christensen et al., 2016The milkshake-study essay that made JTBD famous outside academia.
- Competing Against Luck — Christensen et al.The book-length treatment of JTBD from the Christensen Institute.