How to Get Results From Jobs-to-Be-Done Interviews

Core Questions What are they trying to do overall? What are all of the steps in that process? Where are they now? Where does the problem you are solving fit in that process? Where in that process do they spend a lot of time or money? What have they already tried?

1. What’s your role with respect to this product?


2. What did you do before this?


3. What is this product or service supposed to be?


4. Who is this product for?


5. When is the version we’re designing going to be released?


6. What worries you about this project? What’s the worst thing that could happen?


7. What should this project accomplish for the business?


8. How will you, per

Job performer (who): The executor of the main job, the ultimate end user • Jobs (what): The aim of the performer, what they want to accomplish • Process (how): The procedure of how the job will get done • Needs (why): Why the performer acts in a certain way while executing the job, or their

What are they trying to do overall? What are all of the steps in that process? Where are they now? Where does the problem you are solving fit in that process? Where in that process do they spend a lot of time or money? How often do they experience this problem? What have they already tried?

The backbone of the method I introduce here is a series of four, logically sequenced questions that you’ll return to again and again. They organize the information you’re seeking (as defined by the “Language” just described) and function as both a compass and roadmap for many market investigation techniques—above all, the one-on-one customer interv