Framework
Term

JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done)

A customer-research framework that models purchases as the customer 'hiring' a product to make progress on a job. Instead of asking who the customer is, JTBD asks what they are trying to accomplish.

JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done) reframes the customer not by demographics but by the job they are trying to get done — the progress they want to make in a specific situation. The framework was developed by Clay Christensen in the 1990s and is now the default lens for innovation work at Intercom, Basecamp, and similar product-led teams.

The standard JTBD statement

When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].

Each piece must be specific: a real situation (not a persona), a verifiable motivation (not a feature), and a measurable outcome (not a feeling). A good JTBD statement could be falsified by interviewing five real customers. A bad one — "When I'm busy, I want to be productive, so I can succeed" — could not.

Functional, emotional, and social jobs

Christensen distinguished three job dimensions:

  • Functional: the practical task ("get me from A to B")
  • Emotional: how the customer wants to feel ("feel competent in front of my team")
  • Social: how they want others to see them ("look like I have it together at work")

Effective products attend to all three. A purely functional product can be displaced by one that handles the same functional job but better serves the emotional or social one.

JTBD vs personas

Personas describe who the customer is (demographics, role, context). JTBD describes what they're trying to accomplish. They are complementary: many product teams use both — JTBD to drive feature decisions, personas to drive marketing and segmentation. Personas without jobs produce features that fit no decision; jobs without personas produce features no specific segment will champion.

Related

See also

Nearby terms

All terms →
Flywheel

A self-reinforcing business mechanic where each part of the system makes the next part stronger — producing compounding rather than linear growth.

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

A precise description of the customer type for whom a product delivers the highest value at the lowest cost to acquire and serve. ICP is the operational filter that prevents a sales team from chasing every lead.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A quantitative metric that summarizes ongoing operational health of a business function. KPIs answer 'is this part of the business running correctly?'; they are maintenance metrics, not ambition metrics.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

The total gross profit a business expects from a single customer over the entire duration of their relationship.