By Quick answer: What is the jobs-to-be-done framework?
- Core idea — people hire products to make progress in a situation.
- Three dimensions — functional, emotional, social.
- Job statement — When I…, I want to…, so I can….
- Switch interview — reconstruct a real past purchase.
- Competition — anything else hired for the same job, including doing nothing.
Key takeaways
- Demographics describe customers; jobs explain their choices.
- Your real competitors are whatever else people hire for the job.
- Emotional and social jobs often decide between functionally similar options.
- Switch interviews about real decisions beat hypothetical questions.
- JTBD complements personas and research — it doesn't replace them.
People don't buy a drill because they want a drill; they want a hole — or, really, a shelf on the wall, a tidy room, a sense of having done it themselves. That chain is the heart of jobs to be done: customers "hire" products to make progress in a particular situation, and "fire" them when something does the job better. Clayton Christensen and colleagues set out the idea in Harvard Business Review1, and the Christensen Institute maintains the theory today2.
The milkshake story
A fast-food chain wanted to sell more milkshakes. Improving the shake based on demographic surveys didn't help. Then researchers noticed many milkshakes were bought early in the morning, by people alone, who drove away. Asked why, commuters explained they "hired" the shake to make a long, boring drive more interesting and keep them full until lunch. Its competitors weren't other shakes — they were bananas, bagels and boredom1.
Three dimensions of a job
Functional
The practical task: "split rent fairly".
Emotional
How I want to feel: "not awkward with my flatmates".
Social
How I want to be seen: "as the organised, fair one".
Writing job statements
When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].
| Product type | Job statement (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Expense-splitting app | When I'm sharing rent with flatmates, I want to settle up without reminders, so I can keep the peace at home. |
| Quick-commerce app | When I'm cooking and realise an ingredient is missing, I want it in minutes, so I can finish dinner on time. |
| UPI payments app | When I'm at a small shop without change, I want to pay instantly, so I can leave without hassle. |
| Exam-prep app | When I have 20 minutes between classes, I want to revise one topic, so I can feel ready for tomorrow's test. |
| Telemedicine app | When my child has a fever at night, I want a doctor's advice quickly, so I can decide whether to go to hospital. |
Switch interviews
Ask about a real past decision, not hypothetical preferences — the same principle as The Mom Test3:
- First thought — when did you first think you needed something different?
- Trigger — what happened that made you start looking?
- Alternatives — what else did you consider, including doing nothing?
- Anxieties — what almost stopped you?
- Decision — what tipped it? Where were you? Who else was involved?
- Since then — what's been better or worse than expected?
More prompts: 50 user interview questions.
Forces of progress
| Force | Pushes toward switching? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Push of the situation | Yes | Fights over shared expenses |
| Pull of the new solution | Yes | An app that settles in one tap |
| Anxiety of the new | No | "Will my flatmates bother installing it?" |
| Habit of the present | No | "We've always used a notebook" |
Products win by strengthening push and pull and reducing anxiety and habit — for example, by letting friends settle through UPI without installing anything.
Using JTBD in product work
- Frame roadmap items as jobs, not features
- Define competitors as everything hired for the job
- Design onboarding around the situation that triggers hiring
- Measure success by progress made, not features used
In interviews, the JTBD lens makes product sense answers sharper.
Key terms, defined
Job to be done — the progress a person seeks in a situation. Hire / fire — choosing or abandoning a product for a job. Job statement — "When…, I want to…, so I can…". Switch interview — reconstructing a real purchase decision. Forces of progress — push, pull, anxiety and habit.
Frequently asked questions
What is jobs to be done?
A theory, popularised by Clayton Christensen, that customers buy products to get a 'job' done — to make progress in a specific circumstance. Understanding the job explains why people choose, switch or stop using products.
What is the milkshake example?
Christensen described a fast-food chain that found many milkshakes were bought in the morning by commuters who 'hired' them to make a long, boring drive more interesting and keep them full until lunch — a job that bananas, bagels and doughnuts did less well.
How do you write a job statement?
A common format is: 'When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].' For example: 'When I'm splitting rent with flatmates, I want to settle up without awkward reminders, so I can keep the peace at home.'
What is a switch interview?
An interview that reconstructs a real decision to start or switch using a product — the first thought, the trigger, alternatives considered, anxieties and the moment of purchase — to understand the forces behind the choice.
How is JTBD different from personas?
Personas describe types of people; JTBD describes the progress people seek in situations. Different personas can share a job, and the same person has different jobs in different contexts. Many teams use both.
What are functional, emotional and social jobs?
Functional jobs are practical tasks; emotional jobs are how people want to feel; social jobs are how they want to be seen by others. Products that address all three are hard to displace.
Sources
- Harvard Business Review — Know your customers' jobs to be done (Christensen et al., 2016)
- Christensen Institute — Jobs to Be Done theory
- Rob Fitzpatrick — The Mom Test
- Checked October 23, 2026. Figures that change — fees, salaries, prices — are reviewed every six months; if something is out of date, tell us.
Where to go from here
- Product sense interviews — JTBD sharpens your user framing
- 50 user interview questions — questions that uncover the job
- Product managementProduct manager resume: examples, bullet formulas and a template that gets interviewsWrite a product manager resume that gets interviews: an outcome-first bullet formula, before-and-after examples, a one-page template and tips.
- Product managementProduct sense interview: how to answer "design a product for…" questionsHow to crack product sense interviews: a seven-step framework, a worked Indian example, what interviewers score and the mistakes to avoid.
- Templates & tools50 user interview questions that uncover real problems — grouped by goal, with the questions to avoid50 user interview questions for discovery and usability research, grouped by goal, with a simple script and the leading questions to avoid.
- Templates & toolsUser persona template: what to include, two filled examples, and how to build personas from researchA user persona template with the fields that matter, two filled Indian app examples, and a step-by-step method to build personas from real research.
- Product managementPrioritization frameworks explained: RICE, MoSCoW, Kano, ICE and more — and when to use eachPrioritization frameworks explained with worked examples: RICE, ICE, MoSCoW, Kano and value vs effort — what each is good for and its blind spots.
- Templates & toolsRICE prioritization: the formula, a worked calculator table and how to score features honestlyRICE prioritization explained: the Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort formula, scoring scales, a worked calculator table for five features and common traps.
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