Product teams often face the challenge of too many ideas and not enough clarity on which features will actually deliver value. Traditional methods of feature evaluation – such as voting, competitor analysis, or internal brainstorming – may miss the deeper question: What is the customer really trying to accomplish?

The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework solves this by focusing on the underlying goals or "jobs" your customer wants to get done. These jobs could be practical, such as "buy groceries in less than 10 minutes," or emotional, like "feel confident about what I’m eating." By grounding feature decisions in these real-world needs, teams can make sure that product development efforts drive meaningful outcomes.

What makes JTBD different from traditional feature prioritization?

Rather than starting with the functionality of your product, JTBD starts with the user context – their challenges, their goals, and the progress they want to see. Features are evaluated based on their ability to help users:

• Get a job done more easily or efficiently
• Reduce frustration or pain points
• Achieve success in ways that matter to them – both practically and emotionally

This framework adds a strategic filter to feature evaluation by ensuring you’re not just building what's possible, but what’s most useful. When used early in the product development process, JTBD also helps anticipate adoption and satisfaction – key metrics in product success.

Benefits of evaluating product features with JTBD

Using the jobs theory in product strategy brings several advantages:

1. Smarter prioritization

It becomes easier to say no to flashy but irrelevant features and yes to the ones tied to meaningful outcomes.

2. Stronger alignment across teams

Product, UX, marketing, and research teams can stay aligned when they’re all focused on solving the same core jobs.

3. Better customer buy-in

Features developed with a JTBD lens tend to resonate more with users, because they’re built around actual needs rather than assumptions.

Ultimately, the JTBD framework brings discipline and clarity to feature development decisions. It helps you validate new features with insights that go deeper than surface-level trends or anecdotes – giving you confidence that your work is moving the product in a direction customers will love.

Before evaluating new product features with the JTBD framework, you need to uncover what your customers are truly trying to accomplish. These are their core jobs – the tasks, goals, or progress customers expect a product or service to help them complete.

Identifying these jobs is a foundational step in JTBD thinking. Skipping it can lead teams to make assumptions or build features that address the wrong problem. But when done well, this step provides a clear lens through which to assess whether a feature idea genuinely adds value.

What is a "core job" in JTBD?

A core job is the underlying reason someone uses your product – what they’re trying to get done in their life or work. It’s not about your feature’s functionality, but the customer’s desired outcome. For example:

• A user doesn’t just want a ride-sharing app – they want to "arrive on time without stress."
• They don’t want a meal kit – they want to "cook a healthy dinner without planning."
• They’re not asking for a new dashboard – they want to "quickly understand key business metrics."

Features that align with these real user goals – functional, emotional, and social – are more likely to succeed.

Methods for discovering core customer jobs

There are several research approaches you can use to uncover these jobs. At SIVO Insights, we often blend qualitative and quantitative methods to draw out deep customer motivations. Common techniques include:

Customer Interviews

Talk to current and potential users about their day-to-day lives and what they’re trying to accomplish. Listen for repeated goals, struggles, and desired outcomes.

Contextual Observation

Watch users in action – whether at home, at work, or interacting with your product. Sometimes unspoken needs surface in real-world settings.

Surveys with Outcome-Based Questions

Ask users to rate how important certain outcomes are and how satisfied they are with current solutions.

Behavioral Data Analysis

Look at how users are engaging with your product to spot clues about their priorities and pain points.

Distinguishing between Core Jobs and Supporting Tasks

It’s important to zoom out from day-to-day tasks and find the broader goal the customer is trying to fulfill. For example, “filtering results” is a task, but the real job might be “find what I need quickly.” The JTBD framework encourages this shift in perspective so you can align features with the bigger customer picture.

Once your core jobs are clearly defined, they become a compass. Every future feature idea can be evaluated with a simple but powerful question: Does this feature help the user get their job done better, faster, or with less effort? If the answer is no, the feature may not be worth building.

By investing in identifying the right jobs up front, you're laying a strong foundation for smarter feature development – one rooted in genuine customer insights, not guesswork.

3 Key Questions to Ask: Does the Feature Help Users...

The core of the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework is understanding what your customers are trying to achieve. When evaluating new product features, asking the right questions can reveal whether those ideas truly align with user goals. JTBD helps teams step out of their own assumptions and refocus on solving meaningful problems for real people. Here are three powerful questions you can use to evaluate features using the JTBD lens:

1. Does the feature help users achieve a goal more easily?

This is about reducing friction. A good feature should simplify the task the customer is hiring your product to do. Whether it involves streamlining a workflow, automating a repeatable step, or minimizing decision-making, ease is a strong signal for value. If the feature adds complexity or demands unnecessary effort, it may be worth reevaluating.

2. Does it help them do the job more reliably?

Reliability matters when users depend on your product to accomplish important goals. If a new feature increases consistency, reduces risk of error, or offers more predictability in outcomes, it supports JTBD thinking. Ask whether this feature improves trust in your product’s ability to get the job done, especially in varying or high-pressure situations.

3. Does it deliver a stronger emotional outcome?

JTBD acknowledges that many customer needs are emotional, not just functional. Does the feature reduce stress, create confidence, save time, or make customers feel more in control? Emotional wins can differentiate a product, especially in crowded markets.

• For example, a budgeting app may add a feature that not only calculates savings goals (functional) but also sends weekly encouragements (emotional), reinforcing a sense of progress and motivation.
• If a feature can deliver both utility and emotion, it’s more likely to resonate.

Asking these questions systematically brings clarity to feature evaluation. It helps product teams center development around actual customer needs, leading to better alignment between design, development, and user value.

Using JTBD to Prioritize Features That Deliver Real Value

Once customer jobs are clearly identified, prioritizing new product features becomes less about internal preferences and more about impact. The Jobs to Be Done framework offers a focused approach to product strategy – helping teams decide not just what to build, but why it's worth building.

Focus on High-Impact Jobs

Start by identifying core user jobs that are underserved or performed with high struggle today. If a feature directly addresses these high-friction tasks, it deserves a closer look. For example, if customers frequently mention how time-consuming the onboarding process is, a feature that automates steps or provides guidance could be a top priority.

Map Features to Customer Jobs – Not the Other Way Around

This mindset shift is key to avoiding feature bloat. Instead of asking, “What features should we add?”, ask, “What jobs are our customers trying to get done, and how can we support those more effectively?” This prevents you from building features that serve the business but leave user goals unaddressed.

Evaluate Feature ROI Through the JTBD Lens

Before committing development resources, score features by how well they:

• Help users do jobs faster or more confidently
• Eliminate unmet needs or common frustrations
• Strengthen the emotional reward tied to completing the job

Comparing features in this way allows product managers and UX researchers to create a clear, human-centered roadmap that aligns with real behaviors and expectations.

Support Agile, Iterative Development

Using Jobs to Be Done doesn’t slow down innovation – it sharpens it. JTBD can be integrated into sprints and design cycles, offering a consistent north star as user feedback is collected and ideas evolve. Market research can support this by offering foundational insights into which jobs carry the most weight in users’ daily lives, helping refine hypotheses early in the product development process.

Ultimately, prioritizing product features based on customer jobs increases the likelihood that new releases will feel relevant and valuable – not just new. JTBD helps you build smarter, not more.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Applying JTBD to Feature Development

Jobs to Be Done is a powerful tool for improving product strategy, but like any framework, it's only effective when applied thoughtfully. Here are some of the most common pitfalls teams face when using JTBD to guide product feature development – and how to avoid them.

1. Focusing on Solutions Instead of Jobs

It's easy to jump to solutions before deeply understanding the customer need. Teams fall into the trap of building what seems innovative, rather than what addresses a clear job. The JTBD framework for new product development emphasizes defining the job first – not leading with technology or trends. Ask: what is the customer trying to accomplish, and why?

2. Confusing Job Statements with Product Use Cases

A common mistake is to write job statements that describe using the product, rather than the broader goal the user cares about. For example, “Using our app to track meals” is a use case. The real job might be “Stay in control of my health without becoming overwhelmed.” Understanding this distinction sharpens product decisions and avoids shallow feature thinking.

3. Overlooking Emotional and Social Jobs

People don't just have functional needs – their goals often carry emotional or social significance. Neglecting these aspects limits your ability to create resonant features. For instance, a productivity app that saves time functionally may also help users “feel less anxious about their workload.” Capturing that emotional payoff can guide feature design that truly connects with users.

4. Using JTBD Without Real Customer Insights

JTBD thinking is only as strong as the research behind it. Assuming user jobs without speaking to real customers is risky. Market research and consumer insights bring the necessary depth to validate which “jobs” actually matter. SIVO’s approach ensures these insights are rooted in lived user experience – not just internal brainstorming.

5. Treating a JTBD Survey as a One-and-Done Tool

While surveys can be useful, JTBD is best applied as an ongoing mindset across teams. Continuous learning from interviews, usage data, and contextual research helps refine your understanding of evolving customer needs – and decide what to build next with confidence.

Avoiding these missteps enables you to unlock the full value of JTBD, turning it into a reliable lens for feature prioritization based on human needs and actual behavior.