Applying JTBD Insights to Product Strategy

Apply JTBD insights to product strategy: pick a segment and growth strategy, group underserved outcomes into themes, and build a roadmap on them.

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At a Glance

Overview

Applying JTBD insights to product strategy is where the research in the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework becomes decisions. By this point a team has a job map, a list of outcomes with opportunity scores, and needs-based segments. This skill turns them into four things: which segment to serve first, how to compete for it, which themes the roadmap will address, and how each release will be judged.

A common failure in JTBD work is research that gets presented once and then ignored while the roadmap is built the old way, from sales requests and internal opinion. The practices here are designed to keep the outcome evidence inside the planning process: roadmap items that name the outcomes they target, success metrics taken from outcome statements, and review points where the evidence is checked again.

Strategy starts with choosing where to compete. Ulwick's growth strategy matrix describes five options based on how well an offering gets the job done and at what price: differentiated, dominant, disruptive, discrete and sustaining (Strategyn growth strategies). The choice depends on whether the target segment is underserved or overserved, which is exactly what the opportunity data shows.

The output is a strategy statement for the target segment, a roadmap of themes linked to outcomes, positioning notes for marketing and sales, and a measurement plan. None of it should require a reader to have seen the original research to understand why each item is there.

How It Works

The growth strategy matrix links opportunity data to a way to compete. Strategyn defines the options roughly as follows (Strategyn growth strategies):

• Differentiated: target underserved customers with something that gets the job done significantly better, at a higher price.
• Dominant: get the job done significantly better and for significantly less, for the whole market.
• Disruptive: target overserved customers or non-consumers with something that does the job adequately for less.
• Discrete: serve customers whose situation restricts their options, accepting a worse or costlier solution.
• Sustaining: make the job slightly better or cheaper, which helps incumbents keep existing customers.

A segment with a cluster of high-opportunity outcomes suggests a differentiated or dominant play. A segment whose outcomes are mostly overserved suggests a disruptive one.

Themes connect outcomes to roadmap items. Group the target segment's underserved outcomes by job step and by the kind of capability that could address them. A theme such as "confirm the inputs are current before executing" might contain several outcomes from the confirm stage. Concepts are then judged by how many of the theme's outcomes they could move, which favors solutions that address a cluster over ones that address a single item.

Outcome statements become success metrics. If a theme targets "minimize the time it takes to confirm which invoices are due", the release should measure that time before and after. This keeps delivery honest: a release is done when the outcome moves, not when the feature ships.

Positioning uses the qualitative side of JTBD. The four forces from switch interviews tell marketing what pushes customers away from their current solution, what pulls them toward a new one, and which anxieties and habits hold them back (four forces). Messages that reduce anxiety and address habit often matter as much as ones that sell the pull.

Job stories can carry the context into delivery. Intercom's format, "When (situation), I want to (motivation), so I can (outcome)", keeps the situation and motivation attached to a piece of work in place of a persona (Intercom on job stories).

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Assemble the evidence in one place

Gather the job map, the outcome list with importance, satisfaction and opportunity scores, the segment profiles and the interview synthesis. Check that the scores come with their caveats: sample, wording and known limits of the method. Write a one-page summary a stakeholder could read in a few minutes. Everything later in this skill should trace back to it.

Step 2: Choose the target segment

Compare segments on the size and severity of their unmet needs, how reachable they are, and how well your current product serves them. Pick one segment to lead with and say why the others are second. Record what would make you revisit the choice. A strategy that tries to serve every segment at once usually serves none well.

Step 3: Choose a growth strategy

Use the opportunity data for the target segment to pick among the five growth strategies (Strategyn growth strategies). Underserved outcomes point toward doing the job better. Overserved ones point toward doing it more simply or cheaply. Write the strategy as one sentence naming the segment, the job and the way you will compete.

Step 4: Group outcomes into themes

Take the target segment's most underserved outcomes and group them by job step and by the capability that might address them. Give each theme a name that describes the job progress it enables, not a feature. Note which outcomes each theme covers and their scores. Discard themes whose outcomes are already well served.

Step 5: Generate and compare concepts

For each theme, generate several solution concepts, including ones that do not fit your current product. Score each concept against the theme's outcomes: which ones it would move and by how much, as a judgment the team records. Favor concepts that address several outcomes at once. Test the leading concepts with job executors before committing engineering time.

Step 6: Sequence the roadmap

Order the themes by opportunity, effort, dependencies and fit with the chosen strategy. Put the outcome statements next to each roadmap item so the reason for it is visible. Leave room for commitments the research did not cover, such as security or compliance work, and say so explicitly rather than hiding them in themes.

Step 7: Write positioning and measurement

Draft positioning for the target segment from the interview forces: the push you address, the pull you offer, and how you reduce anxiety and habit (four forces). For each theme, define how you will measure its outcomes before and after release. Agree on when to repeat the survey or the interviews to check that the outcomes moved.

Best Practices

• Put outcome statements directly on roadmap items. When someone asks why an item is there, the answer should be visible without opening the research deck.
• Write the growth strategy down before debating features. Many feature arguments are unstated disagreements about whether to be better, cheaper or simpler (Strategyn growth strategies).
• Give marketing and sales the interview forces, not just the scores. Positioning is built from why people switch, which scores do not show.
• Keep a list of requests that do not map to any underserved outcome, with the reason. It makes saying no easier to explain and shows where the research may have gaps.
• Recheck the evidence at a set point, for example after the first themes ship, and change the plan if outcomes did not move.

Common Mistakes

• Presenting the research and then planning as usual: A readout that does not change roadmap items changes nothing. Require each item to name its target outcomes.
• Building one feature per outcome: A roadmap of single-outcome features grows long and thin. Group outcomes into themes and look for concepts that address several.
• Choosing a segment by revenue alone: The largest segment may already be well served by competitors. Weigh severity of unmet need and your ability to reach the segment alongside size.
• Treating opportunity scores as precise: Small differences in score do not justify strong ordering decisions (Buchanan's critique). Use scores to form tiers and let other evidence break ties.
• Measuring shipment instead of outcomes: If success is "feature launched", the roadmap drifts back to output. Measure the outcome the item targeted.

References

• Examples: Worked examples and scenarios
• FAQ: Frequently asked questions
• Parent Method: Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework

Related Skills

• Identifying Underserved Outcome Opportunities
• Segmenting Customers by Unmet Needs
• Conducting JTBD Customer Interviews

Sources

• Strategyn: The Job-to-Be-Done Growth Strategy Framework
• jobstobedone.org: The Four Forces of Progress
• Intercom: How we accidentally invented Job Stories
• Braden Buchanan: Outcome Driven Innovation, a critique

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