Growth Frameworks
Jobs To Be Done

Turning Jobs to Be Done into Actionable Concepts for Innovation Teams

Qualitative Exploration

Turning Jobs to Be Done into Actionable Concepts for Innovation Teams

Introduction

Creating innovative products or services starts with understanding what people truly need. But how do you move from vague customer wants to specific, actionable solutions your team can build on? That’s where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework comes in. JTBD is a way to look at what customers are trying to accomplish in their lives – the “jobs” they hire products or services to do. Instead of focusing solely on demographics or preferences, JTBD centers the conversation around goals and desired outcomes. It’s a mindset shift that unlocks deeper consumer insights and makes room for real innovation. When used effectively, JTBD doesn’t just help you understand the customer – it gives your team a foundation for idea generation, problem solving, and concept development that aligns with actual needs.
This post is designed for innovation teams, product managers, brand strategists, and decision-makers who want to turn consumer insights into tangible innovation ideas but aren’t sure where to start. If you’ve heard of the JTBD method and want to know how to put it into action – especially in early-stage concept development and team brainstorming – you’re in the right place. We’ll walk through how to use the JTBD framework to guide ideation, focusing on how to turn key customer "jobs" into clear problem statements that spark useful product concepts. You’ll learn how to move from insight to action – a key challenge for many teams – and see how using JTBD for product development can align cross-functional teams around problems that matter. Whether you’re just starting with design thinking or looking to sharpen your existing ideation process, this guide will give you tools and examples that are easy to apply. Along the way, we’ll show you how research-backed consumer insights from methods like qualitative interviews can inform your JTBD statements and set a strong foundation for building solutions. By the end, you’ll be better equipped to direct innovation efforts toward customer outcomes that drive growth, not guesswork.
This post is designed for innovation teams, product managers, brand strategists, and decision-makers who want to turn consumer insights into tangible innovation ideas but aren’t sure where to start. If you’ve heard of the JTBD method and want to know how to put it into action – especially in early-stage concept development and team brainstorming – you’re in the right place. We’ll walk through how to use the JTBD framework to guide ideation, focusing on how to turn key customer "jobs" into clear problem statements that spark useful product concepts. You’ll learn how to move from insight to action – a key challenge for many teams – and see how using JTBD for product development can align cross-functional teams around problems that matter. Whether you’re just starting with design thinking or looking to sharpen your existing ideation process, this guide will give you tools and examples that are easy to apply. Along the way, we’ll show you how research-backed consumer insights from methods like qualitative interviews can inform your JTBD statements and set a strong foundation for building solutions. By the end, you’ll be better equipped to direct innovation efforts toward customer outcomes that drive growth, not guesswork.

How JTBD Helps Innovation Teams Find Opportunities That Matter

One of the biggest challenges for innovation teams is knowing where to focus. With so many possibilities – new products, updates, features, or even entirely new business models – it can be difficult to identify which opportunities are meaningful to customers and offer real growth potential. That’s where the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework stands out. It gives teams a way to uncover and prioritize opportunities based on what consumers are actually trying to achieve.

What Makes JTBD Different?

Traditional market research often focuses on who the customer is or what they say they like. JTBD goes a step deeper. It looks at the outcomes people are seeking and the progress they want to make in their lives. Products and services are seen as tools people ‘hire’ to get specific jobs done – whether that’s preparing a healthy meal quickly, staying connected on-the-go, or getting better sleep.

By focusing on these jobs, innovation teams can unlock:

  • Deeper consumer insights – Understand what really motivates behavior
  • Relevant opportunity areas – Spot unmet needs or friction points worth solving
  • Clarity in product innovation – Align ideas with actual customer outcomes

From Inspiration to Direction

Using JTBD helps move from vague ideas to focused innovation themes. For example, if a user’s job is to “stay organized while juggling family and work,” that job can inspire multiple directions – from mobile to-do lists to smart home tools. The key is understanding the job behind the behavior, not just the product category.

At SIVO Insights, we often see clients struggling to translate research into innovation. JTBD provides a clear, repeatable method to bridge that gap. With this framework, product development becomes about enabling progress for real people – and that’s where relevance (and demand) grow.

Why Innovation Teams Should Care

The JTBD framework offers a unifying language for cross-functional teams. Different roles – from marketing to design to R&D – can align around consumer jobs instead of debating feature lists or trend reports. It simplifies prioritization by focusing on customer outcomes you can rally behind.

In short, JTBD helps teams stop guessing and start designing with purpose. When you identify meaningful jobs, the rest of your ideation process becomes more strategic, structured, and impactful.

Translating Customer Jobs into Clear Problem Statements

Once you’ve identified core customer jobs, the next step is turning those insights into problem statements your innovation team can build on. This step is often where teams get stuck – not because they lack ideas, but because the job isn’t framed clearly enough to guide brainstorming. Writing a useful problem statement takes interpretation – and it’s a skill that can be learned.

What Is a Problem Statement in the JTBD Process?

A problem statement derived from JTBD captures a consumer’s struggle or unmet need in a way that invites solution-thinking. It’s not about defining a solution upfront. Instead, it articulates the gap between what a person wants to achieve and the obstacles in their way. A good problem statement fuels both creative thinking and focused development.

For example:
Customer Job: “I want to eat healthier during my busy work week.”
JTBD-Inspired Problem Statement: “Busy professionals need simple, time-saving ways to plan and prepare healthy meals between meetings, without complicated steps or excess cost.”

How to Write a JTBD Problem Statement

Start by identifying the desired outcome of the job, any emotional or functional drivers, and the specific constraints or barriers. Then combine them into a concise statement that highlights what the person is trying to do and why it’s challenging.

Helpful prompts when crafting problem statements:

  • What progress is the person trying to make?
  • What gets in their way?
  • Why is this job important to them?
  • What’s currently falling short or causing friction?

Use Clear, Human-Centered Language

A common pitfall is using overly technical or vague language. Keep it simple and focused on the person’s situation. This is key for getting cross-disciplinary teams aligned during the ideation process. If your problem statement doesn’t inspire ideas, try reworking it through the lens of empathy.

Turning Insight into Innovation

Once you’ve built useful problem statements, they become anchors for brainstorming using Jobs to Be Done. Each one represents a challenge real people face – a spark for concept development. Whether you're aiming for incremental improvements or bold product innovation, these statements ensure your team is solving problems that truly matter.

At SIVO, we often partner with clients to transform consumer insights into opportunity spaces. By grounding idea generation in real human needs, the JTBD method helps teams move faster and ideate smarter – creating solutions that reflect how people actually live, work, and make decisions.

Creating Idea Territories from JTBD Themes

Once you've identified the key Jobs to Be Done (JTBD), the next step is to transform them into idea territories – broad, insight-driven zones where innovation thinking can thrive. Idea territories serve as bridges between understanding customer needs and generating meaningful solutions. Instead of random brainstorming, they give your team focused spaces to explore possibilities rooted in real-world demand.

What Are Idea Territories?

Idea territories are clusters of related needs, frustrations, or goals uncovered through the JTBD method. They narrow your innovation lens by grouping themes in a way that sparks targeted ideation. For example, if research shows that busy parents struggle with planning healthy family dinners, an idea territory might be “Simplifying Family Meal Planning.” That opens up ideation around tools, services, or products that solve for that specific job.

Turning JTBD Themes into Actionable Territories

Here’s a simple way to go from JTBD themes to idea territories:

  • Step 1: Group related jobs around shared motivations or pain points (e.g., saving time, reducing complexity, gaining confidence).
  • Step 2: Reframe each cluster as an opportunity area – a meaningful challenge worth solving.
  • Step 3: Give the territory a working name that inspires creativity (e.g., “Empowering First-Time Homeowners” instead of just “Buying a Home”).

Each territory should tie back to a genuine consumer insight uncovered through marketing research or qualitative interviews. That’s what grounds your innovation in reality – and what makes the difference between a good idea and a high-potential solution.

Example: From JTBD to Territory

JTBD Theme: “I want help choosing the right skincare routine for my skin type.”
Idea Territory: “Personalized Beauty Guidance for Everyday Consumers”

This territory could lead to innovation ideas like app-based consultations, starter kits, or interactive in-store tools that guide shoppers to better choices – all rooted in the original consumer job.

Instead of tackling product innovation in broad strokes, idea territories help innovation teams prioritize areas with traction – areas where consumer insights clearly point to underserved needs.

Best Practices: Brainstorming Concepts with Real Customer Insights

Once you've translated JTBD into clear opportunity territories, it's time to put those insights to work through the ideation process. A common mistake innovation teams make is jumping into brainstorming without anchoring in customer truths. Using real consumer insights as a foundation ensures that the ideas generated are not only creative, but relevant and likely to resonate in-market.

Ground Your Brainstorming in Empathy

Before an ideation session, revisit the language and stories shared by actual customers during research. If you’ve done qualitative interviews or ethnographic work, bring those voices into the room. Play short clips or use printed verbatims. These help everyone remember: we’re solving for real people.

Best Practices for concept development using JTBD

  • Start with problem statements: Frame each challenge as a short phrase reflecting a real job to be done (e.g., “Help me find nutritious snacks I can eat on the go.”)
  • Use ‘How Might We’ questions: Turn insights into opportunity prompts (e.g., “How might we make healthy snacking effortless for busy commuters?”)
  • Invite diverse thinkers: Build cross-functional teams that bring different perspectives to the table – design, marketing, R&D, operations.
  • Quantity before quality: Encourage open-ended thinking before narrowing in on strong ideas. Creative volume often leads to sharper concepts.
  • Refine with criteria: After idea generation, assess concepts through desirability (would consumers want this?), feasibility (can we build it?), and viability (does it align with business goals?).

For example, consider a JTBD like “I need help getting my kids to eat vegetables.” One team might suggest packaging innovations for fun shapes, while another proposes recipe kits aimed at picky eaters. Both come from the same job but solve it differently. Neither concept would likely emerge without the initial consumer insight to guide the conversation.

Using the JTBD framework adds focus to brainstorming, yet leaves room for creative exploration. It empowers teams to ideate with intention – producing concepts that aren’t just new, but truly needed.

Why Starting with JTBD Leads to Stronger, Customer-Centered Ideas

At the heart of every successful innovation lies a deep understanding of what people are trying to accomplish in their lives. The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework is a powerful way to uncover exactly that – offering clarity around the real drivers behind consumer behaviors. When innovation teams start with JTBD, they ground their work in purpose, avoid misalignment, and ultimately build solutions that stick.

Why JTBD Is a Superior Starting Point

Too often, teams fixate on improving existing products or technology without asking: What do customers actually want to achieve? JTBD flips that dynamic. By identifying the functional and emotional jobs people are trying to complete, teams can shape ideas that meet those needs in fresh, effective ways.

This means products and services aren’t just made better – they become more meaningful.

3 Key Benefits of Starting with JTBD

1. Aligns Ideas with Real Needs:
Instead of guessing what might work, you’re working directly from consumer insight. JTBD-based problem framing helps teams focus on what matters, reducing wasted effort.

2. Encourages Solutions, Not Just Features:
JTBD moves beyond wish lists of product features. It encourages teams to define what success looks like for the user – and innovate with that outcome in mind. That shift often leads to more holistic and useful concept development.

3. Builds Empathy Into the Process:
Design thinking best practices recommend starting with empathy. JTBD supports this by putting everyday challenges into context. You're not inventing to impress stakeholders – you're solving for real moments that matter to people.

Example: Solving a Human Job vs. Adding a Feature

Let’s say you’re building a new fitness app. A feature-first approach might focus on adding more tracking tools. A JTBD-led approach might reveal a deeper job: “Help me stay motivated even when life gets in the way.” That insight could lead to innovations like adaptive goal setting, automated encouragement, or community challenges.

That’s the kind of concept that connects. Not because it’s flashy – but because it solves something real.

By using the JTBD method for innovation teams, companies can uncover opportunities that lead to more successful product innovation and lasting market relevance. It's not about adding more – it's about doing what matters better.

Summary

The Jobs to Be Done framework offers innovation teams a powerful, human-centered way to discover unmet needs and turn them into actionable opportunities. By deeply understanding what people are trying to accomplish – and why – teams can develop stronger problem statements, create focused idea territories, and guide brainstorming with real consumer insights. This approach leads to more relevant, impactful concepts that truly serve your customers.

When used effectively, JTBD doesn't just support innovation – it accelerates it, making it easier to generate meaningful ideas rooted in empathy, insight, and strategic clarity.

Summary

The Jobs to Be Done framework offers innovation teams a powerful, human-centered way to discover unmet needs and turn them into actionable opportunities. By deeply understanding what people are trying to accomplish – and why – teams can develop stronger problem statements, create focused idea territories, and guide brainstorming with real consumer insights. This approach leads to more relevant, impactful concepts that truly serve your customers.

When used effectively, JTBD doesn't just support innovation – it accelerates it, making it easier to generate meaningful ideas rooted in empathy, insight, and strategic clarity.

In this article

How JTBD Helps Innovation Teams Find Opportunities That Matter
Translating Customer Jobs into Clear Problem Statements
Creating Idea Territories from JTBD Themes
Best Practices: Brainstorming Concepts with Real Customer Insights
Why Starting with JTBD Leads to Stronger, Customer-Centered Ideas

In this article

How JTBD Helps Innovation Teams Find Opportunities That Matter
Translating Customer Jobs into Clear Problem Statements
Creating Idea Territories from JTBD Themes
Best Practices: Brainstorming Concepts with Real Customer Insights
Why Starting with JTBD Leads to Stronger, Customer-Centered Ideas

Last updated: May 29, 2025

Curious how SIVO can help your team turn customer jobs into winning concepts?

Curious how SIVO can help your team turn customer jobs into winning concepts?

Curious how SIVO can help your team turn customer jobs into winning concepts?

At SIVO Insights, we help businesses understand people.
Let's talk about how we can support you and your business!

SIVO On Demand Talent is ready to boost your research capacity.
Let's talk about how we can support you and your team!

Your message has been received.
We will be in touch soon!
Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Please try again or contact us directly at contact@sivoinsights.com