Introduction
What Is Jobs To Be Done and How Does It Work?
Jobs To Be Done (often shortened to JTBD) is a thinking framework that helps businesses understand the real reasons people buy – not just what they purchase, but what they’re trying to accomplish. It shifts the focus from the product itself to the problem or “job” the customer is trying to solve.
For example, someone buying a drill doesn’t just want a drill – they want a hole in the wall, or a shelf hung, or maybe a remodeled space that makes them feel accomplished. The “job” might be functional, emotional, or social. The JTBD framework zooms in on this motivation to uncover deeper, often unspoken, consumer needs.
How the JTBD Framework Works
The JTBD framework involves identifying and analyzing the following:
- The Job: What the customer is trying to get done. This could be simple (e.g., mow the lawn) or complex (e.g., feel like a competent homeowner).
- The Circumstances: When, where, and why does this job arise?
- Current Solutions: What are they currently using to fulfill the job? What frustrations do they have?
- Desired Outcomes: What’s the ideal result, and how could their experience be improved?
These elements can be explored through **qualitative and quantitative research** to generate rich, actionable **consumer insights**. Unlike traditional market research that focuses on demographics and preferences, JTBD dives into motivations and contexts – often revealing insights traditional methods overlook.
Benefits of Using Jobs To Be Done in Business
When applied thoughtfully, Jobs To Be Done can help teams:
- Design offerings that align directly with customer intent
- Reveal unmet customer needs and pain points
- Discover innovation opportunities driven by real usage patterns
- Enhance segmentation by grouping customers by goals, not just demographics
For instance, a fictional example in the food delivery space: Instead of targeting “millennials who order takeout,” JTBD research might uncover that people are hiring food delivery to avoid the stress of cooking after long workdays. That shift in perspective can influence everything – from the messaging in campaigns to the features in an app or even the types of meals offered.
By revealing *why* someone engages with a product or service, the JTBD framework helps businesses build with purpose and solve problems that matter. It’s a core piece of **human-centered design**, ensuring that innovation stems from actual human behavior and needs.
What Is Jobs Theory? Understanding the Big Picture
While Jobs To Be Done gives us the practical tools to dig into customer behavior, Jobs Theory lays the foundation for why this approach matters in the first place. Jobs Theory is the broader thinking model that says: People don't buy products or services for the product itself – they 'hire' it to do a job in their life.
Popularized by innovation expert Clayton Christensen, Jobs Theory reframes how we define markets and understand competition. Instead of asking who your customer is, it asks, “What job is this person trying to get done?” From there, the theory encourages businesses to innovate in ways that serve that job better or differently than alternatives.
Jobs Theory Explained for Beginners
At its core, Jobs Theory is rooted in a few key principles:
- People hire products and services to solve specific jobs. These jobs may be functional (e.g., get somewhere on time), social (e.g., look impressive), or emotional (e.g., feel secure).
- Jobs exist regardless of the solution. The 'job' doesn’t change even if the available solutions do. For example, people wanted portable music before smartphones – cassette players and MP3 players were earlier “hirings.”
- Understanding the job leads to better solutions. If you know what your customer is really trying to achieve, you can design products or services that meet that exact need more effectively.
Rather than lean on assumptions or trends, Jobs Theory encourages companies to deeply investigate the true goals behind customer choices. It's another way of saying: If you don’t know the job your product is being hired for, you’re innovating in the dark.
Why Jobs Theory Matters in Business Strategy
When companies anchor their business strategy around Jobs Theory, they stop competing just on features or technology and start delivering real value. It helps teams look at their market not just in terms of competing brands, but in terms of competing “hirings.”
For instance, ride-sharing apps don’t just compete with taxi companies – they also compete with public transit, car ownership, biking, and even staying home. Each of these solves a slightly different version of the transportation “job.” Jobs Theory reveals these dynamics and pushes teams to innovate in ways that aren’t obvious through traditional **market research** segmentation.
Ultimately, Jobs Theory adds depth to business thinking. It supports a long-term viewpoint, helping businesses become more attuned to evolving customer needs. It doesn’t replace other insights tools – instead, it provides a powerful lens through which research can be activated. Custom consumer insights gathered using the JTBD framework come alive within the strategic guidance of Jobs Theory.
Together, Jobs Theory and Jobs To Be Done give teams a more human – and more useful – understanding of the people they serve. Knowing how they work separately and together allows organizations to move beyond guesswork, toward genuinely impactful product development and strategy.
Jobs To Be Done vs Jobs Theory: Key Differences Explained
At a glance, Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) and Jobs Theory might sound interchangeable – and they are closely related. But understanding the difference between Jobs To Be Done and Jobs Theory is essential if you're applying these frameworks to uncover customer needs and drive product innovation.
Jobs Theory: The Philosophical Foundation
Jobs Theory is the broader concept that underpins Jobs To Be Done thinking. It argues that people “hire” products or services to achieve specific progress in their lives. In simple terms, consumers make buying decisions not just based on features, but on the outcomes they want – the “job” they need done.
For example, someone buying a treadmill might not simply want exercise equipment. Their true motivation could be: “I want to feel healthier and more energized in the mornings.” That’s the job the treadmill is being hired to do.
Jobs Theory helps us understand the why behind behaviors. It’s more abstract and strategic, guiding organizations to view markets through the lens of human intent and customer motivation.
Jobs To Be Done: The Tactical Framework
Jobs To Be Done, often referred to as the JTBD framework, puts Jobs Theory into action. It provides a structured approach to uncovering and categorizing the jobs customers are trying to accomplish. It breaks those jobs down into:
- Functional jobs – the core task the customer wants to achieve
- Emotional jobs – how the customer wants to feel before, during, or after the experience
- Social jobs – how the customer wants to be perceived by others
Compared to traditional market research that often focuses on what customers say they want, JTBD digs into the context – situations, struggles, and triggers that drive decision-making. Done right, JTBD leads to more actionable consumer insights for product development and business strategy.
In Essence: Theory vs Framework
Jobs Theory gives organizations a way to reframe markets and consumers.
Jobs To Be Done is how researchers apply that theory to uncover real-world insights and make strategic decisions.
The two work hand in hand – one is about mindset; the other is about methods. Together, they help businesses move beyond surface-level wants to understand what really drives customer behavior.
How These Frameworks Help Businesses Innovate Smarter
Understanding customer behavior is one thing. Using that understanding to create better products and experiences – that’s where innovation thrives. Both the Jobs Theory and the Jobs To Be Done framework play a powerful role in helping businesses modernize their approach to human-centered design, inspiring innovation that truly sticks.
Moving Beyond Surface-Level Feedback
Traditional surveys and market research often capture preferences (“I like blue packaging”) or customer satisfaction (“Service was great!”). While important, this type of data may not reveal the full picture of what customers are hiring a product or service to do.
JTBD research dives deeper to understand:
- What progress customers are trying to make
- What obstacles or triggers shape their decisions
- Why existing solutions may be falling short
This richer level of consumer insight helps businesses uncover unmet needs – even in mature markets – and spot whitespace opportunities others may miss.
Aligning Innovation with Real Needs
By tapping into the Jobs To Be Done framework, companies can more confidently align product development and business strategy with what people actually need. That means they’re not guessing what customers want – they have evidence built on real context and motivation.
For instance, a fictional meal kit company might discover through JTBD research that working parents aren’t just looking for quick dinner solutions. Their emotional job is “to feel like I’m providing a real meal for my family after a long day.” That insight could lead to meaningful innovations like better recipe personalization, simpler prep workflows, or child-friendly options – all anchored in deep understanding.
Fostering Cross-Team Alignment
JTBD frameworks also give teams a common language to describe what customers are trying to accomplish – bridging silos across marketing, sales, R&D, and design. This alignment helps create customer-first cultures where everyone pulls in the same direction.
When everyone understands the job customers are hiring you to do, your ideas become sharper, your positioning stronger, and your execution more relevant.
In short, using Jobs Theory and Jobs To Be Done doesn’t just improve how you innovate – it refocuses your entire business around the outcomes your customers care about most.
When to Use Jobs To Be Done for Consumer Research
The Jobs To Be Done framework is highly flexible, but it’s especially valuable in situations where traditional research may fall short. Whether you're developing a new product, evaluating brand positioning, or trying to better understand customer churn, JTBD can bring a fresh layer of insight into the choices people make and why.
Key Moments to Leverage JTBD Research
Consider applying a JTBD approach when your team is facing questions such as:
- Why are our customers choosing competitors over us?
- What drives adoption or rejection of our new products?
- Are there emerging needs we're not currently addressing?
- How do customers define value – and how can we better deliver it?
Because JTBD focuses on customer motivation and context rather than just demographics or satisfaction, it’s ideal for uncovering nuance and struggle. It leads to more complete consumer insights that reveal the deeper story behind buying behavior.
Examples of JTBD in Action
Let’s say a fictional audio company wants to design new wireless headphones. Instead of just surveying customers about features, they use JTBD research to explore the real reasons people buy headphones today. Through that lens, they identify different “jobs,” like:
- “Help me focus and block out distraction at work.”
- “Make my morning run feel motivating and energetic.”
- “Let me listen while still being aware of my surroundings.”
Based on these insights, they can develop tailored experiences that go beyond general sound quality – creating something more meaningful and sticky for different use cases.
The Power of Custom Research
While JTBD can be explored through interviews and workshops, its strength increases when folded into custom research programs. SIVO, for instance, often integrates JTBD methods into qualitative and quantitative studies to capture robust, real-world data about why people make the choices they do – enabling clients to act on insights faster and with greater clarity.
If you’re seeking to better understand your customers’ unmet needs, or reimagine your value proposition from their perspective, JTBD research is a powerful way forward. It’s not just asking what your customers want – it’s uncovering what they’re really trying to do, and how you can help them do it better.
Summary
Understanding what your customers truly need – and why – is at the heart of modern business success. Both Jobs To Be Done and Jobs Theory give organizations tools to move beyond surface-level data and dig into deeper human drivers. While Jobs Theory provides the foundational mindset around how people make decisions, the JTBD framework offers a practical way to apply that philosophy in your market research and strategic planning.
Throughout this post, we explored:
- What the Jobs To Be Done framework is and how it works
- The core ideas behind Jobs Theory for business leaders
- The key differences between Jobs Theory and JTBD
- How these models unlock smarter, human-centered innovation
- When and why to apply Jobs To Be Done in your consumer research
Used well, these ideas can transform not just your products, but your entire approach to understanding customer needs and staying competitive in your industry.
Summary
Understanding what your customers truly need – and why – is at the heart of modern business success. Both Jobs To Be Done and Jobs Theory give organizations tools to move beyond surface-level data and dig into deeper human drivers. While Jobs Theory provides the foundational mindset around how people make decisions, the JTBD framework offers a practical way to apply that philosophy in your market research and strategic planning.
Throughout this post, we explored:
- What the Jobs To Be Done framework is and how it works
- The core ideas behind Jobs Theory for business leaders
- The key differences between Jobs Theory and JTBD
- How these models unlock smarter, human-centered innovation
- When and why to apply Jobs To Be Done in your consumer research
Used well, these ideas can transform not just your products, but your entire approach to understanding customer needs and staying competitive in your industry.