A jobs to be done template you can use this afternoon.
Jobs to be done gets academic quickly. This template keeps the parts teams actually use: the job, the situations it comes up in, what pushes people to switch and what holds them back.
Customers don't want your product; they want the progress it helps them make. Framing work around the job keeps the team focused on that progress, and shows you competitors you'd otherwise miss, like spreadsheets, a colleague, or doing nothing.
The four forces explain why people switch, or don't. A strong push and pull isn't enough if anxiety and habit are stronger, which is why good products still lose to the old way of doing things.
How to use it
- 01Start from a real switch
Interview customers who recently started using you, or a competitor. Ask what was going on when they started looking.
- 02Write the job in their words
Verb, object, context. Keep your product out of it: the job existed before you did.
- 03Fill in the forces
Push and pull drive the switch; anxiety and habit resist it. Put a quote behind each.
- 04Use it to decide
For each idea, ask which force it changes. Most products only work on pull and forget that reducing anxiety can matter more.
Jobs to be done
The job
- Job statement
Verb, object and context, without your product in it. For example: get a delayed shipment re-booked before the customer notices. - Who has this job
- When it comes up
The trigger, as specific as you can make it.
Job stories
One for each distinct situation the job comes up in.
- When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].
- When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].
- When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].
The four forces
- Push: what is wrong with how they do it now
- Pull: what attracts them to a new way
- Anxiety: what worries them about switching
- Habit: what keeps them doing it the old way
How they judge success
- What they measure
Faster, cheaper, fewer mistakes, less stress. In their words. - What 'done' looks like to them
What they hire today
- Current solutions
Include spreadsheets, people and doing nothing. - Why they would fire it
Evidence
- Quotes behind each force, with their source
- Open questions
Filled in: re-booking delayed freight (Quayline, a fictional company)
Job statement
Get a delayed shipment re-booked before the customer notices.
Job story
When a carrier cancels at short notice, I want to see the next available slot across every carrier at once, so I can confirm a new date before the client chases me.
The four forces
Push: "We heard from the client before we heard from the carrier."
Pull: one view of every carrier's availability.
Anxiety: "What if the data is wrong and I promise a slot that doesn't exist?"
Habit: phoning the two carriers they trust, which works most of the time.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep your product out of the job
"Use our dashboard to track shipments" is a feature. "Know a shipment is late before the client does" is a job, and it lets you see every way people get it done.
Don't skip anxiety and habit
Teams love push and pull because they make the case for building. Anxiety and habit explain why people who need your product still don't switch.
Count 'doing nothing' as a competitor
For many products the biggest competitor is putting up with the problem. Write down what that costs, so you know what you're up against.
One job per page
If the job stories start describing different goals, you have two jobs. Split them.
Or let Corha find the jobs in what customers already said
Corha reads your calls, tickets and CRM notes and groups what customers say into themes, with the quotes behind each. It shows which themes are getting louder, so you can see which jobs matter more this quarter than last.
Questions about the jobs to be done template
- What is a job story?
- A short statement in the form "When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]." It describes the situation and the goal rather than the person, which makes it easier to design for.
- What are the four forces of progress?
- Push (what's wrong with the current way), pull (what's attractive about a new way), anxiety (what worries people about switching) and habit (what keeps them doing what they do). People switch when push and pull outweigh anxiety and habit.
- Jobs to be done or personas?
- They work together. A persona describes who the customer is and the context they work in; a job describes the progress they are trying to make. Many teams put the main job at the top of each persona.
- How do I find customers' jobs to be done?
- Talk to people who recently switched to you or to a competitor, and ask about the moment they started looking: what happened, what they tried, and what nearly stopped them.
A persona built on evidence: the job, the trigger, the objections and a quote behind every line
A 30-minute interview script that asks about what customers did, not what they might do
Six questions, about two minutes, built to tell you what to fix
A one-page research plan that starts from the decision, not the method
Skip the blank page.
Start with your website and Corha drafts a first picture of your customers in about a minute. Connect your calls and tickets when you want it backed by real quotes.
Try it with your own website, no account. We read the public page and keep nothing.