Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
01 Definition
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) meaning: A framework that views products as things people hire to make progress on a goal.
Jobs to Be Done is a way of understanding customers by the progress they want to make, not by their demographics. It holds that people hire products to get a job done in a given situation. The framework guides innovation and messaging by focusing on the underlying need behind a purchase.
Also called
Why it matters
How Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) fits the work
JTBD helps teams uncover why people really buy, which can reveal unmet needs and non obvious competitors that traditional demographic thinking often misses.
In context
A milkshake study found commuters hired the shake to make a boring morning drive more interesting, a job unrelated to their age or income.
Practical note
A job includes functional, emotional, and social dimensions. Focusing only on features can miss the real motivation, and the same person may hire different products for the same job.