Jobs To Be Done (JTBD), in Clayton Christensen’s interpretation, is a framework that explains customer choices by the progress people want to make in a particular context. Customers “hire” a product to do a job — functional, emotional, or social — and “fire” it when it falls short. Anything that solves the same job counts as competition, and unmet or poorly served jobs mark innovation opportunities.
Jobs To Be Done (JTBD)
Details
- Full Name
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Jobs To Be Done Framework (Christensen interpretation)
Core Concepts:
- Job definition
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Progress people want to make in a particular context
- Functional job
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Practical task to accomplish
- Emotional job
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How people want to feel
- Social job
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How people want to be perceived
- Hire and fire
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Customers "hire" products to do a job, "fire" when inadequate
- Context matters
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Jobs exist in specific circumstances
- Competition redefined
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Anything solving the same job is competition
- Innovation opportunities
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Unmet jobs or poorly served jobs
- Job stories
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Alternative to user stories focusing on context and motivation
- Key Proponents
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Clayton Christensen, Alan Klement, Bob Moesta
When to Use:
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Product discovery and innovation
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Understanding why customers choose solutions
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Identifying true competition
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Writing more meaningful user stories
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Market segmentation based on jobs, not demographics
Criticism:
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Two schools claim the same term: Alan Klement documents in "Know the Two — Very — Different Interpretations of Jobs to be Done" that Christensen/Moesta’s Jobs-as-Progress and Ulwick’s Jobs-as-Activities (Outcome-Driven Innovation) are incompatible interpretations that confuse practitioners
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Even the origin is contested: Ulwick’s Strategyn states that "JTBD was created by Tony Ulwick in 1990" and merely popularized by Christensen ("Know Your Customers' 'Jobs to Be Done'", HBR 2016)
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The bare acronym therefore activates two conflicting priors — say "JTBD (Christensen, jobs as progress)" or "JTBD (Ulwick, Outcome-Driven Innovation)"; this anchor’s full name carries the Christensen qualifier for exactly that reason