# Jtbd Research

> Research Jobs-to-be-Done — the progress customers seek in specific circumstances — to inform product and messaging strategy. Use when uncovering why customers hire products, mapping job stories, or reframing markets around outcomes.

- Skill: `itsual/jtbd-research` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/jtbd-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/jtbd-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/jtbd-research

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# JTBD Research

## Overview

Jobs-to-be-Done research focuses on the functional, emotional, and social progress people seek when they “hire” a product or solution in a context.

## When to Use

- Product strategy and roadmap framing
- Messaging and positioning grounded in jobs
- Switching and adoption research
- Innovating beyond feature comparison

## Core Practices

- Interview around recent real choices and timelines
- Map forces: push of the old, pull of the new, habits, anxieties
- Distinguish job (progress) from solution (product)
- Document circumstances and success criteria in the customer’s language
- Prioritize jobs by importance and dissatisfaction where measured
- Translate jobs into product and messaging implications

## Principles

- People buy progress, not products
- Hypothetical “would you use” is weaker than reconstruction of real hires
- Jobs are stable relative to solutions
- Emotional and social jobs are real, not soft add-ons

## Verification

- [ ] Insights are grounded in real choice narratives
- [ ] Jobs are stated as progress, not feature wishlists
- [ ] Implications for product/messaging are explicit