The 12 Situations That Should Trigger a Jobs to be Done Interview
You rarely have to invent the research question - it comes from the situation you're in. Here are the twelve that should send you looking.
Before you talk to a single customer, you need to know what you’re trying to learn. The good news is that you rarely have to invent that question. It comes from the situation you’re in and what you’re working on at the time.
Something is happening in the business, a decision you have to make, a number you can’t explain, a bet you can’t afford to get wrong, and that situation is what sends you looking.
Spend some time thinking about the situation you’re in, and the questions will emerge.
Most of the situations that cause people to reach for Jobs to be Done fall into one of four categories:
The framework has been around for long enough that people have come up with all kinds of different applications. The list above isn’t all-inclusive, but it’s broad enough that it should help you get into the mindset of figuring out what you’re trying to answer.
Now let’s unpack each category and situation. My goal is to help you figure out which situation you’re in and give you a jumping-off point for a series of interviews.
Deciding What to Build
Before You Build
Picking a Direction (post-launch)
Taking Over a Business or Product
Before You Build
You’ve got a hunch about a new product, feature, or market, and you’re itching to start building.
Talking to people who’ve already bought in that space will help you uncover whether the job you’re betting on is real, whether it matters enough that people will pay to get it done, and whether someone else is already nailing it.
It’s a lot cheaper to learn your hunch is wrong in five conversations than in six months of building.
Picking a Direction (post-launch)
You’re working at a startup, you shipped something, and people are actually buying it. Now you have to decide what to build next, what customers to focus on, and which direction to take, and you don’t want to guess.
Talk to the people who just bought. The job they hired you for tells you which of the paths in front of you is the real one, and which are distractions.
Taking Over a Business or Product
You just started a new job or acquired a business. In either case you’re responsible for a product or set of products.
Before you start changing things based on assumptions you inherited from the previous operators, you need to get your feet on the ground and learn, first-hand, why people actually buy this thing. It’s one of the fastest ways to get up to speed on a business you’re suddenly responsible for.
Unpacking Surprises
The Anomaly
Unexpected Adopters
Buyer, User, or Both?