Synthesize

Write jobs to be done

Describe the progress people are trying to make, and what they hire to make it today.

How to do it

1. Find the moments that trigger the job (“when…”).
2. Write the job as progress, not a feature: “I want to…, so I can…”.
3. Split it into functional, emotional and social jobs.
4. List what they hire today, including workarounds and people.

Tip. A job outlives any product. “Get dinner on the table without thinking” is a job; “reorder last week’s basket” is one way to do it.

What you need

Start from:

• Interview notes, Insight, Affinity map or Survey results

It is better with: Persona, Analytics or Desk research.

What you get: Jobs to be done

A jobs to be done template has these sections:

• Main job
• Functional jobs
• Emotional jobs
• Social jobs
• Struggles
• Hired today

Where it fits

• Define (Double Diamond): Agree the one problem worth solving, and for whom.

Usually comes after

• Run an interview
• Synthesize insights
• Affinity mapping

What to do next

• Map opportunities
• Write how-might-we statements
• Write a readout
• Audit the evidence
• Build a survey
• Check what new evidence changes

Templates that use it

• Exploratory study: We don’t know the problem well yet: why do people do what they do?
• Double Diamond: A whole project, from understanding a problem to a tested answer.
• Continuous discovery: A product team learning every week towards one outcome.
• Jobs to be done: Why do people start using, switch to or leave a product like yours?