nWave-ai JTBD Analysis
Core Principle
A job is the progress a person is trying to make in a particular circumstance. Jobs are stable over time — technology changes, jobs don't. People hire products to make progress; they fire them when they fail.
The trap: Feature requests describe a proposed solution, not the underlying job. Always extract the job first.
Job Statement Format
When [situation/trigger], I want to [motivation/action], so I can [expected outcome]
Examples (good):
- "When I'm hosting a virtual networking event, I want to facilitate natural conversations between strangers, so I can create valuable connections that wouldn't happen otherwise."
- "When I join an event as a participant, I want to quickly find relevant people to talk to, so I can maximize the value of my limited time."
Job Types — Extract All Three
| Type | Question | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | What task is the user trying to accomplish? | Find someone with complementary expertise |
| Emotional | How does the user want to feel? | Feel confident approaching strangers |
| Social | How does the user want to be perceived? | Appear professional and well-connected |
Abstraction Layers — Navigate to the Real Job
Jobs usually live at strategic or physical level, not tactical.
| Layer | Question | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tactical | How do we improve this interaction? | Better drag-and-drop for notes |
| Operational | Why does this workflow exist? | Why do we need a facilitator? |
| Strategic | What decision is being pursued? | How do we reduce direction uncertainty? |
| Physical | What's the irreducible function? | Input → Synthesis → Convergence |
Navigation rules:
- Use "why?" to move up layers
- Use "how?" to move down layers
- Stop when further "why?" produces a life-goal answer
First-Principles Extraction — 3-Step Inversion
When a feature request is presented as a job, apply this:
Identify the Activity — What visible action is the user performing?
- e.g., "User brainstorms on a whiteboard"
Reject the Activity as the Job — Does anyone wake up wanting to do this activity?
- "Nobody wakes up wanting to brainstorm" → the job is deeper
Strip to Irreducible Function — What remains if all tools and methods are removed?
- e.g., "Reduce uncertainty via input-synthesis-convergence"
Disruption check: Is there a higher-level job that would make this entire job unnecessary?
ODI Outcome Statements — Measurable Success Criteria
Format: [Direction] + [Metric] + [Object] + [Context]
Direction: Always "Minimize" (95% of time). "Maximize" only when more is genuinely better.
Metrics priority:
the time it takes to— speed/efficiency (preferred)the likelihood of— avoiding occurrencesthe likelihood that— avoiding resultsthe number of— quantity reductionthe effort required to— ease
Good vs bad examples:
| Bad | Problem | Good |
|---|---|---|
| "I want easy video calls" | Ambiguous + solution | "Minimize the time it takes to start a conversation with a specific person" |
| "Manage my network effectively" | Vague verb + ambiguous | "Minimize the time it takes to identify who can help with a specific need" |
| "Use breakout rooms to talk privately" | Solution embedded | "Minimize the likelihood of conversations being overheard by unintended parties" |
| "Don't miss important people" | Negative framing | "Minimize the likelihood of failing to connect with relevant attendees" |
Forbidden words: easy, reliable, good, better, effective, efficient, manage, handle, deal with. Forbidden patterns: solution references ("using AI", "via the app"), compound statements with "and"/"or", demographics.
Opportunity Scoring
Formula: Score = Importance + Max(0, Importance - Satisfaction)
Where Importance and Satisfaction are surveyed 1-10.
| Score | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| > 12 | Under-served — high opportunity |
| 10-12 | Appropriately served — maintain |
| < 10 | Over-served — do not invest |
Output format per opportunity:
| Outcome | Importance | Satisfaction | Score | Status |
|---------|------------|--------------|-------|--------|
| Minimize time to find relevant attendees | 9.2 | 4.1 | 14.3 | Under-served |
DIVERGE Output for JTBD Phase
Produce docs/feature/{feature-id}/diverge/job-analysis.md with:
- Raw request — verbatim feature/problem statement received
- Job extraction — 5 Why chain from tactical to physical/strategic level
- Job statements — functional (required) + emotional + social (if identifiable)
- Disruption check — Is there a higher-level job this entire job is serving?
- Outcome statements — 3-6 measurable ODI-format statements
- Opportunity candidates — Which outcomes appear most under-served?
Gate: Job must be at strategic or physical abstraction level. Tactical-level jobs are not acceptable input for brainstorming — elevate first.
Source: nWave-ai/nWave → nWave/skills/nw-jtbd-analysis/SKILL.md
Also appears in: nWave-ai/nWave/plugins/nw/skills/nw-jtbd-analysis/SKILL.md