Jobs to Be Done
Definition
A framework for understanding customer needs by identifying the functional, emotional, and social jobs they hire products to complete.
Why It Matters
Key Takeaways
- 1.Jobs to Be Done is a foundational concept for modern business strategy
- 2.Understanding this helps teams make better technology and growth decisions
- 3.Practical application requires combining theory with data-driven experimentation
Real-World Examples
Applied jobs to be done to achieve significant competitive advantages in their markets.
Growth Relevance
Jobs to Be Done directly impacts growth by influencing how companies acquire, activate, and retain customers in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Ehsan's Insight
Clayton Christensen's JTBD framework asks the most important question in product development: "What job is the customer hiring your product to do?" Milkshake buyers in the morning are not buying a milkshake — they are buying "make my commute less boring." Understanding the job changes every product decision: the competitor is not other milkshakes but podcasts, bananas, and breakfast sandwiches. For SaaS products, the job is rarely "use software." It is "close deals faster," "understand my customers," or "ship code without breaking things." When you frame your product around the job instead of the category, your positioning becomes instantly clearer and your competitive set shrinks to the products that serve the same job, not the products that share your features.
Ehsan Jahandarpour
AI Growth Strategist & Fractional CMO
Forbes Top 20 Growth Hacker · TEDx Speaker · 716 Academic Citations · Ex-Microsoft · CMO at FirstWave (ASX:FCT) · Forbes Communications Council