The first step in using Jobs to Be Done for product development is making sure your job statements are clear, specific, and focused. A strong JTBD statement describes what the user is trying to accomplish, without jumping ahead to the solution. If your team is still unclear on what a job is, think of it this way: a job is the progress a customer is trying to make in a given situation.

Example: instead of saying “Use a budgeting app,” a better JTBD statement might be “Feel confident managing monthly expenses so I don’t overdraw my account.” This puts the customer’s end goal at the center, not the tool they’re using.

What makes a good JTBD statement?

• Outcome-focused: It should focus on what the customer wants to achieve, not the process or the product.
• Contextual: Include the situation or moment the job becomes relevant (e.g., "When my paycheck arrives…").
• Solution-agnostic: Avoid naming specific features or technologies.

Clear job statements are crucial because they act as a foundation for writing user stories and product requirements. Vague or overlapping jobs often lead to unclear priorities and misaligned development efforts. By contrast, well-articulated jobs simplify decision-making across product, design, and engineering teams.

Tips for building strong JTBD statements:

Use real user language when writing job statements. Review interview transcripts, or voice-of-customer data, and look for direct quotes that reflect pain points or aspirations. You might even group customer needs into primary and supporting jobs:

• Primary job: The core problem the user is trying to solve (e.g., “Track my spending in real time”).
• Supporting jobs: Related emotional or convenience-based outcomes (e.g., “Feel less anxious about my finances”).

Organizing JTBD insights this way makes it easier for teams to translate them into action. And when your foundational statements are clear and well-written, the next steps – writing product backlog items, designing user flows, and prioritizing features – become much easier to manage.

Once your job statements are clear, the next step is unpacking the layers of each job. Every job to be done typically includes functional, emotional, and social dimensions. Understanding all three helps create more user-centered solutions that go beyond basic features – ultimately delivering better alignment between the product and real customer needs.

What are the components?

Functional: This is the most straightforward part of the job – what the user is trying to get done on a practical level. For example, “Schedule a recurring bill payment” or “Track my daily steps.” These are direct tasks the product should enable through clear functionality.

Emotional: Here, we look at how the customer wants to feel during or after completing the job. Maybe they want to feel secure, accomplished, or confident. Emotional needs often drive repeat engagement and brand loyalty, which makes them essential for UX decisions and messaging.

Social: These elements relate to how the user wants to be perceived by others. In some contexts, people want to appear responsible, informed, or tech-savvy. While they’re not always overt, social drivers can influence product usage and even purchasing decisions – especially in peer-influenced environments.

Example of breaking down a job:

Let’s say the job to be done is: “Stay on top of my child’s school schedule.”

• Functional: Get alerts or reminders before school events, access the homework calendar quickly.
• Emotional: Feel like a prepared, attentive parent who’s not missing important dates.
• Social: Be seen by teachers or other parents as organized and dependable.

When all three components are understood, they can be used to shape tangible product requirements. The functional job informs the actual features to build. The emotional and social layers guide UX design, tone of content, prioritization of user stories, and even interface language.

By mapping each job this way, your team can avoid the common pitfall of over-indexing on utility while missing the nuances that drive real behavior. A feature may work well technically, but unless it supports the full emotional and social context of the job, it might not fully resonate with users.

Teams often use tools like JTBD canvas templates or journey maps to visualize these components. But even a simple table outlining each job and its dimensions can bring structure and focus to your product backlog discussions. When it's time to write user stories or prioritize roadmap decisions, this layered understanding of the customer need ensures solutions stay grounded in the real world – your users’ world.

Once you’ve clearly articulated your Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) and broken them down into their functional, emotional, and social parts, the next step is turning those insights into action. One of the best ways to do this is by mapping each job to specific product features, user stories, or backlog items, forming a bridge between what customers need and what your team builds.

Why Mapping Matters

Simply having JTBD insights isn’t enough – it’s what you do with them that drives progress. By translating customer jobs into tangible product deliverables, you create alignment across product, UX, and development teams. This ensures your product roadmap is directly rooted in real customer needs, not assumptions or internal ideas alone.

From Job Statement to Product Requirement

Let’s say your JTBD research uncovered this core need: “When researching a new software tool, I want to easily compare features so I can confidently choose the best option.” Here’s how this might translate:

• User Story: “As a prospective customer, I want to see a side-by-side comparison of features so I can make an informed decision.”
• UX Requirement: Add a comparison table to the product page with toggle filters and feature highlights.
• Backlog Item: Design and implement comparison functionality for top 3 product plans.

This process connects user insights directly to execution, reducing guesswork and increasing product relevance.

Start Simple and Iterate

You don’t need to solve every job in one product release. In fact, it’s more effective to:

1. Start with high-impact jobs that align to business goals

2. Break jobs down into smaller parts to create multiple user stories

3. Test value early through MVPs, prototypes, or usability tests

Following this approach creates a product backlog driven by user insights instead of guesswork.

Tools to Help the Process

Product teams often find it helpful to use JTBD-specific templates or user story frameworks to maintain consistency. Collaborating closely with UX researchers or using market research findings can also add depth to the job mapping process – especially when layered with customer quotes and context.

Ultimately, using the JTBD framework to define your product requirements helps you turn customer needs into clear tasks for your design and development teams, building real value into your roadmap.

Once you’ve mapped your customer jobs into specific product features or user stories, you still face one critical question: What should we build first?

Prioritization is key when working with Jobs to Be Done. The JTBD framework not only helps you understand what customers need, but also how often they need it (frequency) and how strongly it impacts them (importance). Balancing both allows you to guide product development based on actual user value – not just internal opinions or deadlines.

The Two Dimensions of Prioritization

There are two factors to weigh:

• Frequency: How often do customers encounter this job in real life? High-frequency jobs are more central to everyday product use.
• Importance: How critical is this job to their success, emotional satisfaction, or ability to complete their goal?

Consider the combination of both. A job that’s frequent but low in importance can be deprioritized, while a job that’s infrequent but emotionally or functionally critical may deserve attention nonetheless.

Scoring Customer Jobs

Many product teams benefit from quantifying this process. Try creating a simple matrix where each job gets rated (e.g., 1 to 5) on:

1. Frequency

2. Importance

3. Customer dissatisfaction with current solutions (optional but insightful)

Jobs with the highest combined scores move to the top of your product backlog, guiding roadmap and feature development.

Use Data to Support Decisions

Market research and user feedback are powerful tools at this stage. Survey data, field interviews, or usability testing can reveal how often pain points arise and which needs are most pressing. This ensures prioritization decisions are rooted in evidence, not anecdote.

JTBD in Long-Term Planning

Some customer jobs won’t be solved in one sprint – and that’s okay. Use your prioritization data not only for short-term items, but also to shape releases, versions, and even broader product strategy. Aligning the product roadmap with real, ongoing customer needs keeps development focused and user-centric over time.

Prioritizing jobs to be done keeps feature decisions smart, strategic, and anchored in real-world use – leading to better products and stronger market fit in the long run.

UX and design play a critical role in delivering on customer needs revealed through Jobs to Be Done. Once you’ve mapped and prioritized jobs, the final – and often most visible – piece is bringing them to life through thoughtful experiences that reflect users’ motivations and expectations.

Design Starts with the Job – Not Just the Interface

A common mistake in product design is to begin with existing UI elements and retro-fit functionality. The JTBD approach flips that: it starts with customer intent and builds the experience around that purpose.

For example, if one customer job is: “When I’m evaluating a product, I want to feel confident I’m making the right decision,” the UX should focus on reducing friction, providing clear comparisons, and offering trust signals (like customer reviews or data transparency).

From Jobs to User Flows

Think of each job as a journey the customer is on. What steps are they taking? Where do they hit friction? Use JTBD research to outline user flows that mirror actual decision-making paths. This helps prioritize:

• Navigation structure that matches customer mental models
• Information architecture that reflects job hierarchy
• Visual cues that support emotional reassurance or urgency

Rather than designing around features, you’re designing around experience, intent, and outcome.

JTBD Examples for UX Design

Here are simple ways JTBD insights could inform common UX decisions:

• Job: “I want to track my progress over time so I stay motivated.”
  UX Action: Create a dashboard with clear progress visuals and micro-celebrations for milestones.
• Job: “I want quick help when I get stuck.”
  UX Action: Add contextual tooltips and real-time chat support within high-friction pages.

Strengthening Emotional and Social Components

Functional outcomes are just part of the picture. Don’t forget that JTBD also covers emotional and social needs. A user may complete their task, but still leave frustrated or uninspired. Build trust signals, offer personalization, and surface social proof to engage those deeper needs.

Creating Confidence Throughout the Journey

Design that’s aligned to jobs flows with clarity, reduces doubt, and builds user confidence. Whether sketching wireframes or refining micro-interactions, every design choice should ask: “What job is this helping the customer complete?”

Incorporating JTBD into UX design ensures that customer needs aren’t just met – they’re felt. This leads to smoother experiences, increased retention, and stronger emotional connections.