Purpose
The method helps clarify customer problems, solution ideas, and evidence concretely. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as job stories, outcome statements, and an opportunity list.
Product Discovery
Jobs to Be Done
Turns customer problems, solution ideas, and evidence into a tangible result by recruiting customers, asking for the switching story, and deriving opportunities.
What concrete job were switchers trying to get done, and which four forces led them to the current product?
MediumWorkshop + async1-3 Wochen
How it works
The team follows the steps: recruit customers, ask for the switching story, extract job and outcomes, cluster patterns, and derive opportunities. Each step is captured visibly. At the end, job stories, outcome statements, and an opportunity list are available so decisions, tests, or actions can follow directly.
Visual orientation
Method sketch for a quick mental model.
Flow
- 1Recruit customers
- 2Ask for the switching story
- 3Extract job and outcomes
- 4Cluster patterns
- 5Derive opportunities
The runsheet guides execution with 5 phases, timeboxes, 6 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.
Open runsheetIdeal for
- Customer discovery
- Positioning
- Opportunity framing
Not good for
- Internal process problems
- Fast ideation without research
Deep dive
In detail
Jobs to Be Done follows a clear working logic: recruit customers, ask for the switching story, extract job and outcomes, cluster patterns, and derive opportunities. This turns the method into a visible thinking process rather than only a conversation. Participants move step by step from raw material, observations, or options toward a shared structure. The result is job stories, outcome statements, and an opportunity list that make decisions, learning, or further planning actionable.
Facilitation
Prepare a clear guiding question, the right information, and a visible workspace. Plan about 1-3 weeks with 5-12 interviews and use the format either in a workshop or asynchronously. The facilitation needs noticeable structure and preparation; short timeboxes, visible intermediate results, and a parking lot for open questions help.
Artifact templates
Jobs to Be Done Working TemplateCompact working template for Jobs to Be Done with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.markdown
Jobs to Be Done Working TemplateCompact working template for Jobs to Be Done with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
markdownjtbd-working-template.md
Compact working template for Jobs to Be Done with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
Jobs to Be Done Working Template
Goal
Frames demand through the progress that customers want to achieve.
Context
When and for what do we use this method?
Input
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Execution
Short notes along the runsheet.
Output artifacts
- Job stories:
- Outcome statements:
- Opportunity list:
Assumptions and open questions
- ...
Decision / next step
Owner, date, and success signal.
When to choose differently
Short decision aid for existing alternatives.
Personas
Statt Jobs to Be Done, wenn du mit Personas stabile Zielgruppenbilder für Kommunikation, Design und Priorisierung aufbauen willst.
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