How to Build Great Software Products Using the Jobs To Be Done Framework

Creating successful software products that solve real-world problems is hard. It's easy to rely on assumptions instead of deeply understanding users, leading to solutions that may not address actual needs.

Frameworks like Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) help avoid this trap. JTBD is based on the premise that people "hire" products to help them progress and complete a ‘job.’ Product teams can build solutions buyers genuinely want and need by deeply understanding what jobs the user is trying to do, the obstacles they face, and the desired outcomes.

The Jobs To Be Done framework and User-Centered Design (UCD) are both methodologies used in product development to ensure that the end product effectively meets the needs of its users. While they share similarities in focusing on the user's requirements, they approach these objectives differently.?

Both JTBD and UCD emphasize understanding the user. Each methodology benefits from iterative processes, where insights and feedback lead to continuous improvements in the product.

UCD focuses on users' needs based on their characteristics, behaviors, and preferences. Conversely, JTBD centers on the specific "jobs" users are trying to get done. It's more about understanding the tasks users are trying to accomplish and the context in which they are trying to accomplish them rather than the users themselves.

?JTBD is more analytical and strategic than UCD, focusing on identifying and understanding the "jobs" for which a product is hired. This can lead to innovation beyond current user interactions or product categories. UCD, while also problem-solving, is more focused on optimizing solutions based on direct user feedback and observed interactions.

A benefit of JTBD is that it can be applied more broadly, including product strategy, marketing, and innovation, as it helps identify new opportunities by understanding user motivations and desired outcomes. Despite their differences, JTBD and UCD can complement each other in product development. But as this article is focused on JTBD, let’s take a closer look at the framework.

Understanding the Jobs To Be Done Framework

Innovation consultant Tony Ulwick created the Jobs To Be Done framework as a strategy for product development. The key ideas behind Jobs To Be Done are:

1. People buy products and services to achieve a goal or "job"
2. Jobs have functional, emotional, and social dimensions
3. Jobs are stable, whereas solutions change over time
4. Success comes from understanding the buyer's job and what they ultimately want

Rather than focusing on product features or buyers' demographics, Jobs To Be Done advocates analyzing the higher-level "job" the buyer wants completed.?

A few examples:

• "Help me find a life partner" (dating apps)
• "Understand my spending patterns" (finance apps)
• "Keep my home clean" (robotic vacuum cleaners)

At IntentSG, our product designers work closely with users to ensure that the software we engineer delivers on the actual need it is being built for.?

4 Steps for Using Jobs To Be Done

Here is a step-by-step guide to using Jobs To Be Done so you can build products users value:

Step 1: Define Your Target Audience Crisply

The journey to crafting software products that resonate deeply with users starts with a comprehensive understanding of your target audience. This initial step merges the precision of analysis with the nuance of empathy to paint a detailed portrait of the individuals you're designing for.

Crafting Relatable User Personas

Central to this phase is developing insightful user personas - fictional profiles rooted in real user data and stories. Give personas authentic names, life details, and narratives. This transforms mere demographic statistics into relatable characters that bring users to life for your team.

Focus personas on understanding user needs, desires, and daily challenges. This user-centered perspective, not just features, allows designers, marketers, and developers to create solutions tailored to user goals.

Relatability sparks empathy. Precision guides impact. Remember these core principles when crafting personas to drive better product outcomes.

Gathering Key Insights

The process of building these personas begins with gathering essential information:

• Demographics: Age, location, income, and gender sketch the basic outline of your user base.
• Psychographics: Insights into attitudes and lifestyles help explain users' decision-making processes.
• Behavioral Data: Understanding of users' habits and current problem-solving strategies highlights potential opportunities for your product.

Expanding the View

Creating personas is just the start. A light business and competitive analysis adds depth to your understanding, revealing where your product fits in the market and identifying unique value propositions. Key questions include:

• Solutions your target users currently rely on?
• Where do these existing solutions fall short?
• How can your product stand out and deliver unique value?

Engaging with potential users through interviews and observations uncovers invaluable insights into their real-life experiences and needs. This hands-on interaction enriches your personas and aligns product development with actual user aspirations.

Visualizing User Experiences

Once you've established user personas, enhance your understanding of user needs through two key UX design techniques:

• Storyboards visually narrate user tasks, pinpointing emotional and functional challenges. For example, storyboarding a day in the life of parents using an errands app might uncover inefficiencies in their shopping process.

• User Flows outline the user's journey in detail, from start to finish, revealing areas for simplification and improvement.

These techniques are crucial for promoting team collaboration, optimizing resource use, and focusing development on user requirements.

Continuous Learning and Refinement

Iteratively refine your personas, and user flows with feedback from ongoing user engagement and testing. This adaptation process can highlight new insights or areas for adjustment, improving your product's alignment with user needs. Additionally, designers must consider developing "current state" workflows to understand existing user tasks without your product, further identifying innovation opportunities.

The overarching goal is to deeply understand current user behaviors and preferences to create solutions that are not only centered around the human experience but also significantly enhance user lives.

Step 2: Immerse Yourself in Understanding the Buyers

With the initial audience definition as your guide, I would encourage you to research how those user groups currently deal with struggles, what workaround solutions or products they use, and why those work or fall short.

The key is immersing your product team directly in the user experience as much as possible. Observe real situations where they try to get jobs done to uncover breakdowns. Note workaround products or manual steps they devise to make progress. Capture emotional elements like visible frustration when things fail.

Conduct open-ended inquiries focused on motivation. Ask, "Why is this important to solve?" as users work. Analyze impressions and feelings using mappings like Empathy Canvas during evaluations.

Avoid surveys limited to surface-level product feedback or leading questions that confirm pre-existing beliefs. Instead, take an open learning mindset to uncover the complete picture of user struggle.

These collective insights expose which needs are truly unmet in getting jobs done. They reveal the functional, emotional, and social dimensions influencing decision-making when users hit obstacles. This context is invaluable for identifying spaces where solutions can provide real value.

Step 3: Create Clear User Stories

In this step, we turn our deep understanding of what users need and how they behave into straightforward, actionable user stories. These stories are short, clear descriptions from the perspective of the user.?

They explain who the user is, what they want to achieve, and why they want it, using a simple format:

"As a [type of user], I want [some goal] so that [some reason]."

For example:

"As a budget-conscious shopper, I want my purchases to be automatically categorized?

so I can manage my budget more effectively."

User stories are valuable for several reasons:

• Clarity: They spell out exactly what users need in their own words.
• Guidance: They help design, development, and engineering teams understand what to focus on.
• Testing: They're useful for checking if the product meets user expectations.

It's important to be specific and base stories on real user insights to avoid being too vague or broad. Typically, UX Designers and Product Managers write these stories to keep the team aligned with the user's perspective, avoiding technical jargon or assumptions about how features should be implemented. This clear, user-first approach helps everyone understand what needs to be built and why it matters to users.

Step 4: Develop and Test Phase of User-Centered Evolution?

As the landscape of user needs shifts, holding onto outdated assumptions can hinder progress. It's vital to reassess and potentially redefine your product's roles, personas, and direction to stay in tune with your users' evolving expectations.

Adopting a user-centered design approach means you’re always ready to develop, test, and refine based on direct user feedback. This involves a few key steps:

• Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Start with a basic version of your product that includes the essential features needed to solve users' problems. This MVP is your foundation for learning what works and what doesn't.

• Gather Quick Feedback: Launch your MVP to users swiftly to collect their feedback. This insight is crucial for understanding how well your product meets their needs.

• Iterate Based on Insights: Focus on improving product functionality that resonates with users to boost adoption and satisfaction. At the same time, be ready to remove components that testing reveals need to catch up with users - regardless of past effort invested.

It is also crucial to understand that your product and its user base will naturally diverge over time. Static models lose relevance as user needs evolve. However, regularly analyzing user engagement metrics allows you to identify and address misalignments early. It is essential to create an environment where your team feels safe to question and update their assumptions in light of new data. By embedding flexibility into your development process, you ensure that your product maintains a strong connection to what users find valuable.

Applying Jobs To Be Done for Software Success

Putting Jobs To Be Done into practice takes real work for product teams. Researching, writing job statements, and continually updating findings requires focused effort.

But few things are more worthwhile when creating software that solves actual problems users face. Jobs To Be Done supplies a proven playbook to avoid building stuff no one wants. It anchors teams in the concrete struggles buyers are trying to make progress on —not lofty product ideas.

The beauty of Jobs To Be Done is its flexibility. Teams can follow all four steps end-to-end or use parts like job interviewing. While adopting the full framework takes commitment, even small applications bring powerful empathy and clarity.

Connecting more people to this game-changing approach improves the world for users and companies.

At IntentSG, Jobs To Be Done guides our development and product work. It keeps our software focused on moving the needle for what truly matters to users. This methodology remains key to our mission of creating products that help.