Overview

In this article, we will follow the methodology as outlined by Jim Kalbach. The framework itself was first developed by Clayton Christensen, a former professor at Harvard Business School, and later popularized by Tony Ulwick through his Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) process.

What is it?

The jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework focuses on people’s objectives regardless of any specific solution. People use certain products or services to get their job done. While the means of getting the job done change over time, the jobs themselves remain stable.

Jim Kalbach provides the following example: 75 years ago, filing a tax report was done with pen and paper. Later, people used pocket calculators. Today, we use sophisticated software, and with the advent of artificial intelligence, filing a tax report might look very different in the future (cf. Kalbach 2020:9). The job itself – filing a tax report – has not changed, whereas the means have changed drastically over time.

Instead of focusing on specific solutions, we want to first understand the job that needs to be achieved in a given circumstance. Having a good understanding of the underlying job makes it easier to analyse where your product or service come in and what opportunities might not yet have been addressed.

Job dimension

Let us take our previous example of filing a tax report a little bit further: the abstract job – filing a tax report – remains the same for different job performers (doers). An individual taxpayer, a tax advisor, and an accountant all have to execute the same job, while their objectives and procedures can be very different. An individual taxpayer focuses on their personal income tax returns, while a tax advisor aims to optimize the tax return for their client as this is a source of their income.

Therefore, we have to consider the following dimensions when analysing jobs:

• Who? – job performer (doer) – Executer of the main job
• What? – job – job and procedure how the job will get done
• Why? – needs – rationale, why the job performer acts in a certain way when executing the job
• When and where? – circumstances – contextual factors that frame job execution

Emotional and social factors are also involved. The emotional dimension is how a person feels or wants to feel when executing the job. The social dimension refers to how the job executor is perceived by others when executing the job.

Also, any doer will not only have one job to achieve but rather deal with a multitude of jobs. Therefore, we distinguish between the main job and related jobs.

Job map

Example

To illustrate the concept, we will use the scenario of a treasurer who’s exemplary main job will be to manage payments:

Job performer (doer)

Job statement

For the job statement you use a simple pattern: verb + object. If needed you can add an additional clarifier for the context.

Job statements with and without clarifier
Manage accounts
Manage accounts for employee salaries at the end of the month
Manage payments for quarterly taxes before the government deadlines

Job objective

The job objective is the main goal the job performer seeks to accomplish:

Exemplary job objectives
I want to ensure timely, accurate, and compliant processing of all payment transactions.
I want to ensure that all payments are executed properly and that we always have enough liquidity to execute payments without paying too much interests.

Stages and steps of the main job

The process of the main job is broken down from start to end in main stages and steps. The idea is to provide all steps that are needed to execute the job at hand. To avoid the problem that a job map can become very abstract, it proved helpful to me to include concrete tasks to make such a job map more tangible for other team members.

As a starting point you can use an abstract process flow (cf. Kalbach 2020:73):

1. Define, plan, select, determine
2. Locate, gather, access, retrieve
3. Prepare, set up, organize, examine
4. Confirm, validate, prioritize, decide
5. Execute, perform, transact, administer
6. Monitor, verify, track, check
7. Modify, update, adjust, maintain
8. Conclude, store, finish, close

Needs

What are the concrete needs the job performer has when executing certain stages. The needs include success criteria, expressed with modifiers such as minimize, decrease, mazimize, increase, etc.

Steps	Need
Get request	Maximize standardization to be fast (speed)
Check data	Minimize the risk of errors of others I depend on
Prepare payments	Minimize uncertainties out of poor data quality
Check payment execution	Minimize the risk of errors and complaints
Create reports	Maximize learning to act on solid data; maximize business result

Emotional and social factors

Emotional factors express how the job performer feels (or wants to feel) when executing certain steps. Social factors express how the job performer wants to be seen by others or is seen by others.

Steps	Emotional factors	Social factors
Get request	Feel organized	Be seen confident in case of complaints
Check data	Feel reassured, feel organized
Prepare payment	Feel organized	Be seen informed and in control
Initiate payment		Be seen in control
Check if payment has been properly executed	Feel reassured	Not be perceived as blocker for others as the one who made mistakes
Create report	Feel relieved	Be seen valuable

Circumstances

The situational aspects when the job needs to be performed are relevant for any strategic decisions. You need to understand the circumstances when and why a specific job is necessary.

In our example the job performer is for example not just opening an account. In the usual scenario people from other business departments will approach him to open an account and all his motivations (needs, emotional and social factors) are shaped by this context. Other tasks such as checking liquidity is in his control but this is also done in the context of the business and the execution of this task will be measured based on low interest costs, etc.

How to do the research for a job map?

Creating a job map is usually connected with persona creation as you need not only to understand the job but also get more insights about the job performer. In the following article you can find a question map to probe for a job map as well as evidence based personas in research interviews. The article also provides and example how a persona and a job map can be connected.