Jobs Framework

The Jobs Framework (Jobs-to-be-Done or JTBD) is the strategic approach that focuses on the "jobs" customers hire products to do rather than demographics or features. Popularized by Clayton Christensen and Tony Ulwick, the central question is "what job is this customer trying to get done when they hire this product?" The framework provides a customer-outcome lens distinct from feature-focused approaches (what does the product do?) and segment-focused approaches (who is the customer?), arguing that jobs are more stable predictors of demand than demographics or features. It is one of the more-useful strategic frameworks for product and business strategy.

The core concept:

Customers don't buy products; they hire products for jobs.

• Customer of a milkshake might be "hiring" it to make their commute less boring (Christensen's famous example).
• Customer of QuickBooks might be hiring it to feel less anxious about taxes.
• Customer of Slack might be hiring it to reduce the chaos of cross-team communication.

The "job" is the underlying outcome the customer is trying to achieve:

• Functional job (what they're trying to accomplish).
• Emotional job (how they want to feel).
• Social job (how they want to be perceived).

Application to strategy:

Identify the job: deep customer research reveals what customers are actually trying to accomplish.

Understand competitors broadly: anything that competes for the same job, not just products in the same category.

Design for the job: build product features that accomplish the job better than alternatives.

Position around the job: marketing emphasizes the job, not features.

Examples:

Christensen's milkshake example: McDonald's milkshake "hired" by morning commuters to make commute pleasant, fill them up until lunch. Competing not against other milkshakes but against bananas, bagels, and bored commutes.

Disney+: hired by parents to entertain kids on weekends. Competing not against Netflix but against board games, outdoor activities, and parental energy.

Notion: hired by knowledge workers to organize thinking. Competing not against Google Docs but against Apple Notes, paper notebooks, and disorganized minds.

Where the Jobs Framework helps:

Discovering true competitors: often broader than category competitors.

Identifying underserved jobs: jobs customers care about that no one is doing well.

Pricing strategy: aligning to the value of the job, not features.

Product roadmap: prioritizing features that improve job completion.

Marketing positioning: messaging the job, not the features.

Common Jobs Framework failures:

Too abstract: vague "jobs" that don't inform decisions.

Too narrow: confusing tasks with jobs.

Applied superficially: as marketing buzzword without strategic depth.

Substituting for customer research: jobs framework requires real customer research; can't be theorized.

What founders get wrong: Applying Jobs Framework superficially as marketing buzzword without doing the customer research required to actually identify the jobs. The right discipline: deep research to understand jobs, strategy designed around them, product decisions filtered through job completion.

Related: Jobs to be Done · Customer Discovery · Product Strategy · Business Strategy · Market Segmentation

FAQ

What is the Jobs Framework?
A strategic and product approach popularized by Clayton Christensen and Tony Ulwick that focuses on the jobs customers hire products to do rather than on customer demographics or product features. Argues that jobs are more stable predictors of demand than demographics or features.

What is a "job" in this framework?
The underlying outcome the customer is trying to achieve. Includes functional job (what they're accomplishing), emotional job (how they want to feel), and social job (how they want to be perceived). Christensen's milkshake example: hired by commuters to make commute pleasant.

How does Jobs Framework help with strategy?
By reframing the strategic question from "what does our product do?" to "what job are customers hiring our product to do?" Reveals true competitors (often broader than category competitors), identifies underserved jobs (opportunities), informs pricing (aligned to job value), and improves positioning (around the job, not features).