Product Discovery Analysis method

Jobs to Be Done

Shows the progress people seek in particular circumstances.

Jobs to Be Done examines what people or organizations seek to accomplish in particular circumstances. This guide uses qualitative, story-based interviews about a recent real decision; a job is neither a customer role nor a requested feature.

Core question

What progress is the person trying to make in a particular circumstance, and which forces shape the decision?

Plan the research Method guide

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Participants: 5-12 Interviews
Time: Multiple interviews and synthesis; no total timebox

This guide uses qualitative, story-based interviews through a progress-in-circumstances lens. ODI job mapping and quantitative outcome surveys are separate variants.

Paper illustration of a JTBD interview notebook with a decision timeline, forces of change and a concise job hypothesis.

Change
Choose a concrete decision and circumstance
Jobs are understood as progress in particular circumstances; a concrete decision provides the story frame.
Timeline
Reconstruct the decision story
The participant recounts the first thought, search and trade-offs through the decision and early experience.
Job and forces
Understand progress, forces and desired outcomes
Analysis connects circumstances, functional, social and emotional dimensions, and forces that encourage or resist change.
Synthesis
Review the job hypothesis and next research
Individual stories are compared, differences stay visible and the job hypothesis receives an explicit evidence status.

Compare concrete stories, add counterexamples and update job hypotheses as evidence changes. Qualitative interviews do not establish market size or prevalence.

A good fit when

Use it to understand why people choose, switch to or deliberately retain a solution in a particular circumstance.

Ideal for

Customer discovery
Positioning
Opportunity framing

Not good for

Internal process problems
Fast ideation without research

Outputs

Decision timeline
Events, alternatives and statements from first thought through early use.
Job hypotheses
Progress sought in context, separate from a particular solution.
Learning questions
Cross-case comparison, differences, sources and next research.

JTBD research note: progress in a circumstance

Fictional teaching example

This guide uses a qualitative, story-based JTBD lens on concrete decisions and circumstances. ODI / Outcome-Driven Innovation is a separate operationalized variant and is not conflated with this interview approach.

Circumstance and trigger

What concrete circumstance set the decision in motion?

Fictional: A household is planning a repair and realizes it lacks the right drill.

Decision timeline

What happened from the first thought through search, choice and early use?

Fictional: Alex first asks friends, then checks a local tool library and eventually reserves a tool. No real interview took place.

Forces and alternatives

What pulled toward the new option, pushed away from the old situation or made switching uncertain? Which habit kept the person with the old behavior?

Fictional: Repeated unsuccessful requests are push; local availability is pull; concern about tool condition is anxiety; borrowing from friends is a habit.

Job hypothesis

What progress is the person trying to make in this circumstance?

Fictional: “When a one-off repair comes up, I want reliable access to a tool without having to buy and store it.”

Outcomes and open questions

How does the person judge success, what evidence is available and what remains to learn?

Fictional: Availability and a suitable collection time may be criteria. Both hypotheses need checking in further real cases.

All statements are fictional. The example illustrates interview questions, not real customer insight. Do not generalize a job from a single story.

Sources: Christensen Institute

First step

Define the research question and decision circumstance. Recruit people with recent, relevant experiences.

Open the method guide

Good to do first

Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.

UX Research

User Interviews

Supplies the switch interviews from which the job hypothesis is built.

Where to go next?

Paper illustration of a branching tree with an outcome at its root, customer opportunities, solution options and small experiment cards.

Product Discovery

Opportunity Solution Tree

Uses the tentative job as the outcome-near starting point of the tree.

Product Strategy

Value Proposition Canvas

Aligns the customer profile and value map to the confirmed job.

Deep dive

Purpose

When switching motives and progress are unclear, it reconstructs the situation from real customer circumstances. It shows why a switch happens and what kind of progress is being sought.

How it works

It reads interviews for situations, triggers, and desired progress and condenses them into recurring motives. This aligns opportunity design with observable reality instead of assumptions.

In detail

Jobs to Be Done helps because it shifts attention from product opinions to concrete desires for progress in real life situations. Good use carefully reconstructs switching moments, forces, and uncertainties from interviews, instead of collecting mere feature wish lists. Impact appears where the team understands what kind of progress people are buying or pursuing and why existing solutions only partly deliver it.

Facilitation

Work with material from real switch or non-switch situations and lead early into a concrete moment rather than general satisfaction. It gets especially interesting exactly where a trigger, a fear, and a desired gain become visible together. Close with a few clear job patterns and open points that further interviews can sharpen.

The method guide walks execution through 4 phases, timing, 4 pitfalls, and clear stop criteria.

Open method guide

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Sources and topics

Topics

Customer Outcomes Needs

Sources

Jobs to Be Done Theory | Christensen Institutechristenseninstitute.orgPrimary source for jobs as progress in particular circumstances, including functional, social and emotional dimensions.The Jobs to Be Done Framework | Christensen Institutechristenseninstitute.orgExplains circumstance, progress and forces of change as a lens for decisions; informs this qualitative variant.The Jobs to Be Done Shaping Curriculum Decisions | Christensen Institutechristenseninstitute.orgDescribes story-based interviews about concrete choices and comparison of recurring struggling situations.Jobs to Be Done / Outcome-Driven Innovation | Strategynstrategyn.comBoundary source: ODI uses its own job-map and desired-outcome research; this guide does not claim that methodology.

Artifact templates

Jobs to Be Done: WorksheetPlan interviews about concrete switching and decision circumstances, including synthesis.

markdown

jtbd-working-template.md

Plan interviews about concrete switching and decision circumstances, including synthesis.

Jobs to Be Done: Worksheet

Question

To be confirmed

Desired outcome

To be confirmed

Scope

Conduct a JTBD interview round Time: Multiple interviews over multiple days; about 45–60 minutes per interview

Complete this worksheet on paper or in your own document during the work.

Preparation for this scope

Method setup

Materials: Open interview guide, event and source note template, recruitment planning and secure storage.
Roles: An interviewer and optional note-taker; research ownership coordinates selection and synthesis. Seek varied cases in a small study.
Advance information: Capture current beliefs about jobs and solutions. Define the decision context and prepare a neutral guide focused on the last concrete experience.
Overall time needed: Typically 45–60 minutes per interview plus immediate synthesis. Recruitment, multiple interviews and synthesis span multiple days; there is no universal sample quota.
Setup: Explain purpose and data handling. Begin with a narrative prompt, reconstruct the timeline together and trace each interpretation to a concrete statement.

Prepare for the work steps

Change: Choose a concrete decision and circumstance

Research question
Recruitment criteria for people with a relevant decision experience

Timeline: Reconstruct the decision story

Interview guide with open narrative prompts
Consent and note-taking approach

Job and forces: Understand progress, forces and desired outcomes

Timeline and related statements
Evidence about prior solutions and circumstances

Synthesis: Review the job hypothesis and next research

Notes from several relevant accounts
Segment and circumstance criteria