The Jobs to Be Done Playbook

People employ products and services to get their job done, not to interact with your organization.

Circumstances (when/where): The contextual factors that frame job execution

A simple timeline is used during the interview instead of a discussion guide. Because it may be hard for participants to remember their first thought—or their original needs—the technique works backward through the points on the timeline. Get participants to give you the “documentary” version of their purchasing journey. The timeline represents the

Instead of focusing on your own solution, you must first understand what people want and why that’s important to them. Accordingly, JTBD deliberately avoids mention of particular solutions in order to first comprehend the process that people go through

Making the job the unit of analysis makes innovation more predictable.

There are four elements: Direction of change + unit of measure + object + clarifier • Direction of change: How does the job performer want to improve conditions? Each need statement starts with a verb showing the desired change of improvement. Words like “minimize,” “decrease,” or “lower” show a reduction of unit of measure, while words like “maxim

Emotional jobs reflect how people want to feel while performing the job. Statements usually start with the word “feel.”

The aim is to organize your research and discover how the process unfolds. Note that it’s not about mapping tasks or physical activities, but about creating a sequence of smaller goals that make up the main job. Ideally, the job map will not include any means of performing the job.

Chris Spiek and Bob Moesta, “Unpacking the Progress Making Forces Diagram,” JTBD Radio (podcast), February 23, 2012, http://jobstobedone.org/radio/unpacking-the-progress-making-forces-diagram/ In this podcast, the creators of the Four Forces diagram discuss its intent and use in detail. You can either listen to the podcast or read the transcript. T