Mattakushi432 Jobs To Be Done
Core Theory
Customers don't buy products — they hire them to make progress in their lives.
Three job dimensions:
- Functional job: The practical task (send a file, track expenses)
- Social job: How they want to be perceived (look organized, seem innovative)
- Emotional job: How they want to feel (confident, in control, less anxious)
Great products address all three dimensions. Features that address only functional jobs are easily commoditized.
Switch Interview Format
The switch interview uncovers the full story of why a customer chose your product. Four phases:
Phase 1: First Thought
"Think back to when you first realized you needed a solution like this. What was happening?"
- Goal: Identify the triggering event and context
- Probe: "What changed that made you start looking?"
Phase 2: Passive Looking
"Before you actively searched, were there moments where you thought 'I should fix this'?"
- Goal: Understand the timeline of dissatisfaction
- Probe: "How long had this been a problem before you did anything about it?"
Phase 3: Active Looking
"When you decided to find a solution, what did you do first?"
- Goal: Map the consideration set and evaluation criteria
- Probe: "What other options did you look at? Why did you rule them out?"
Phase 4: Decision
"What ultimately made you choose [product]?"
- Goal: Identify the deciding factor (often emotional, not rational)
- Probe: "Was there a moment when you felt 'this is the one'?"
Job Story Format
Job stories replace user stories with context and motivation.
When [situation],
I want to [motivation / desired progress],
So I can [expected outcome].
Examples
When I'm preparing for a board meeting,
I want to pull all key metrics into one view without manual work,
So I can walk in confident I have the full picture.
When a new team member joins,
I want to share our workspace without reconfiguring permissions,
So I can onboard them without involving IT.
Job Story vs User Story
| User story | Job story | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Role + feature | Situation + motivation |
| Context | Who (persona) | When (trigger) |
| Value | What they want | Why they want it |
| Better for | Scoping tasks | Understanding demand |
Competing Solutions Mapping
Customers always have alternatives — map them honestly.
| Alternative | What job it does | Why customers switch away |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet | Free, familiar | Manual, error-prone at scale |
| Competitor A | More features | Too complex, steep learning curve |
| Doing nothing | Zero cost | Pain grows until trigger event |
| Internal tool | Customized | Unmaintained, no support |
Insight: your real competition is often "doing nothing" or a spreadsheet, not direct competitors.
Switching Triggers and Barriers
Triggers (push from old solution)
- Accumulated frustration ("I've had it with this")
- Triggering event (new job, new team member, compliance audit)
- Social influence (colleague recommends something new)
Pull Toward New Solution
- Promise of a better outcome
- Specific feature that solves the pain
- Social proof from trusted peer
Anxieties (friction to switching)
- "Will it take too long to set up?"
- "Will my team adopt it?"
- "What if I lose my data?"
- "Will it work with our existing tools?"
Habits (inertia)
- Familiarity with current workflow
- Sunk cost in existing solution
- Team muscle memory
Reduce anxiety by: offering migration help, social proof, free trials, easy cancellation.
JTBD-Based Roadmap Prioritization
Instead of prioritizing by features, prioritize by jobs underserved.
Job Importance-Satisfaction Matrix
| Job | Importance (1-10) | Satisfaction (1-10) | Opportunity score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Report for stakeholders | 9 | 3 | 15 (= Imp + (Imp - Sat)) |
| Export data | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Collaborate with team | 8 | 5 | 11 |
| Automate reminders | 6 | 4 | 8 |
Opportunity score formula: Importance + max(Importance − Satisfaction, 0) Score > 10 → underserved, high opportunity
Common JTBD Mistakes
| Mistake | Why it's wrong |
|---|---|
| Defining jobs too narrowly | "Listen to music on a phone" → misses that people want access to music everywhere |
| Defining jobs too broadly | "Be entertained" → too vague to drive product decisions |
| Confusing features with jobs | "Use a dashboard" is not a job — what progress does it make? |
| Skipping emotional/social layers | Pure functional focus leads to feature parity with competitors |
| Assuming the buyer is the user | Different people may be paying vs. using — they have different jobs |
Interview Guide Template
Opening (5 min):
"Tell me about the last time you used [product category].
Walk me through what happened from beginning to end."
Trigger (5 min):
"What prompted you to start looking for a solution at that point?"
"How long had this been a pain before you did something about it?"
Consideration (10 min):
"What other options did you consider?"
"Why did those not work for you?"
"What were the most important criteria?"
Decision (5 min):
"What ultimately made you choose [product]?"
"Was there a specific moment when you felt sure?"
Closing (5 min):
"If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing, what would it be?"
"Who else do you know who struggles with this?"
Insight Synthesis
After 6-8 switch interviews, look for:
- Recurring triggering events → These are your acquisition hooks
- Common anxieties → Address in onboarding and marketing
- Shared emotional jobs → Core of your positioning
- Underserved functional jobs → Roadmap opportunities
- Competing solutions → Where to steal switchers from