Jobs To Be Done-based Product Strategy Framework

What is a Jobs To Be Done-based product strategy framework?

A Jobs To Be Done-based product strategy framework is a structured approach to developing product strategy that uses the core principles of Jobs To Be Done theory to identify market opportunities, prioritize customer needs, and create differentiated product offerings. Unlike traditional product strategy frameworks that often focus on competitive benchmarking or technological capabilities, a JTBD-based framework centers on understanding the fundamental goals customers are trying to achieve.

This framework provides a systematic way to translate customer jobs into actionable product decisions, ensuring that every feature, enhancement, and innovation directly contributes to helping customers achieve their goals faster and more accurately.

Why use a Jobs To Be Done approach to product strategy?

Traditional product strategy approaches often lead to feature-focused thinking, resulting in bloated products that don't effectively solve customer problems. A JTBD-based framework offers several key advantages:

1. Stability in changing markets - While technologies and solutions change constantly, customer jobs remain relatively stable over time, providing a more reliable foundation for long-term strategy.
2. Clearer differentiation - Understanding underserved customer needs in the job reveals opportunities for meaningful differentiation beyond feature comparisons.
3. Reduced development risk - By focusing on validated customer needs rather than assumptions about what customers want, companies reduce the risk of building unwanted features.
4. Better alignment - A shared understanding of customer jobs creates alignment across product, marketing, and sales teams, ensuring consistent execution.

What are the elements of a Jobs To Be Done product strategy framework?

1. Job Definition and Mapping

The foundation of a JTBD-based product strategy is a clear definition of the customer's job-to-be-done. This involves:

• Identifying the core functional job customers are trying to accomplish
• Mapping 10-20 discrete steps customers take to complete the job
• Documenting 5-10 specific needs within each job step
• Validating the job map through customer interviews and observations

For example, in enterprise software, a job might be "acquire new customers" with steps like "identify potential customers," "engage with prospects," and "convert prospects to customers." Within the "identify potential customers" step, needs might include "determine which prospects are most likely to buy" and "identify the decision makers at target companies."

2. Need Identification and Measurement

Once the job is mapped, the next element involves measuring how well customers can satisfy their needs with existing solutions:

• Conducting quantitative surveys to measure customer struggle with each need
• Calculating importance and satisfaction scores for each need
• Identifying unmet needs (high importance, low satisfaction)
• Segmenting customers based on patterns of struggle

These measurements reveal where customers are most underserved by existing solutions and what opportunities exist for new product innovation.

3. Market Opportunity Sizing

Unlike traditional market sizing based on existing product categories, a JTBD framework sizes opportunities based on:

• The number of customers struggling with specific job steps
• Their willingness to pay to get the job done better
• The current cost of getting the job done
• The economic impact of improving job execution

This approach often identifies larger market opportunities than traditional sizing methods because it's not constrained by existing product definitions.

4. Competitive Analysis Through Jobs

A JTBD-based competitive analysis focuses on how well competitors help customers execute their jobs:

• Analyzing competitors against job steps and needs
• Identifying where competitors perform well and poorly
• Uncovering non-obvious competitors that satisfy the same job
• Finding "white space" where no competitors effectively satisfy important needs

This analysis provides a more accurate picture of the competitive landscape than feature-by-feature comparisons.

5. Strategy Development and Prioritization

With data on customer needs, market opportunity, and competitive landscape, the framework guides strategic decision-making:

• Selecting target customer segments based on unmet needs
• Prioritizing which job steps and needs to address
• Determining positioning against competitors
• Setting pricing based on customer value
• Planning growth through adjacent jobs

These strategic choices form a coherent product strategy focused on delivering superior customer value.

6. Roadmap Development and Measurement

The framework extends to roadmap development and execution:

• Translating prioritized needs into product features
• Creating success metrics based on job execution
• Testing concepts against job performance improvement
• Measuring product success through job completion metrics

How does this framework differ from traditional approaches?

Feature-First vs. Jobs-First

Traditional frameworks often start with product features or technologies, then try to find customers who might want them. A JTBD framework reverses this, starting with the customer's job and working backwards to determine what product capabilities will help them execute that job better.

Static vs. Dynamic Customer Understanding

Many traditional approaches rely on static personas or demographic segmentation that doesn't capture why customers make purchase decisions. A JTBD framework focuses on the dynamic elements of customer behavior—their goals, struggles, and success criteria—which more accurately predict purchasing behavior.

Product-Focused vs. Problem-Focused

Traditional frameworks often define markets by product categories, leading to narrow thinking about competition and innovation. JTBD frameworks define markets by customer problems, opening up broader strategic possibilities and revealing non-obvious competitors.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term

Feature-based strategies often chase short-term trends or competitive feature parity. Job-based strategies build on stable customer goals, creating more sustainable competitive advantages.

How to implement a Jobs To Be Done product strategy framework

1. Gather cross-functional input

Bring together product, marketing, sales, and customer-facing teams to share observations about customer goals and struggles. This collaborative approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of customers and creates buy-in for the resulting strategy.

2. Conduct qualitative research

Interview customers focusing on:

• The circumstances that triggered their search for a solution
• The process they went through to select a solution
• Their criteria for evaluating alternatives
• The struggles they experienced trying to accomplish their goal

Look for patterns in these interviews that reveal the underlying job customers are trying to accomplish.

3. Validate with quantitative research

Develop surveys to measure:

• The importance of different job steps and needs
• How satisfied customers are with current solutions
• Their willingness to pay for improvements
• Demographic and behavioral data for segmentation

This data quantifies market opportunities and guides prioritization decisions.

4. Develop and test concepts

Create product concepts that address high-priority unmet needs, then test these concepts with customers based on:

• How much they improve job execution speed and accuracy
• Willingness to pay for the improvement
• Preference over existing solutions

This validation step reduces development risk before significant investment.

5. Align the organization

Ensure that marketing messaging, sales enablement, and product development all align with the customer job and prioritized needs. This consistency creates a coherent customer experience and maximizes the impact of strategic choices.

Common challenges when implementing a JTBD product strategy framework

Resistance to customer-centric thinking

Organizations accustomed to feature-focused or technology-driven development may resist adopting a customer job perspective. Overcoming this resistance requires demonstrating how the JTBD approach leads to better customer outcomes and business results.

Difficulty identifying the right job

Companies sometimes define jobs too broadly ("be productive") or too narrowly ("use our software"). Finding the right level of specificity requires practice and iteration.

Analysis paralysis

With hundreds of potential needs to address, teams can become overwhelmed by data. Success requires clear prioritization criteria and decision-making frameworks.

Balancing innovation and execution

While focusing on the job helps identify breakthrough innovation opportunities, companies must balance these with incremental improvements to maintain competitive parity.

How thrv supports Jobs To Be Done product strategy

thrv provides specialized tools, methodologies, and expertise to help companies implement Jobs To Be Done product strategy frameworks. Through proprietary software and consulting services, thrv helps companies map customer jobs, quantify unmet needs, size market opportunities, and develop strategies that create sustainable competitive advantages based on superior job satisfaction.

The thrv approach helps product teams move beyond feature-focused thinking to create strategies that truly deliver value to customers and drive long-term growth for the business.