jtbd-workshop

What this skill does

# JTBD Workshop Expert

## Overview

Run a Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) workshop end-to-end. This skill is the workshop facilitation companion to the `execution/job-stories/` skill (which is the *writing format* for backlog stories). Where `job-stories/` produces When/Want/So statements for individual backlog items, this skill produces the *upstream discovery output* -- the job hierarchy, the forces driving customers' switching behavior, and the desired-outcome statements that anchor the entire product strategy.

The workshop synthesizes four JTBD schools of thought. Clayton Christensen's *milkshake* lens treats jobs as the underlying progress a customer is hiring a product to make. Anthony Ulwick's Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) decomposes jobs into measurable desired outcomes with importance and satisfaction scoring. Alan Klement's JTBD canvas surfaces the situation-motivation-outcome structure that became the *job story* format. And Bob Moesta's switch interview method uses the moment of purchase as a forcing function to reveal the four forces of progress (push, pull, anxiety, habit).

A well-run JTBD workshop produces three artifacts: (1) a ranked job hierarchy with measurable outcome statements, (2) a forces-of-progress map showing what drives and blocks switching, and (3) a prioritized opportunity list ready to feed into PRDs, OKRs, or roadmap themes.

### When to Use

- **New product or new segment.** You need to understand the underlying progress customers are trying to make before building.
- **Pivot or strategy reset.** Your team is stuck debating features; reset by re-grounding in the customer's job.
- **Pre-roadmap.** Define the job hierarchy before committing to a quarterly or annual roadmap.
- **Stalled adoption.** Customers signed up but did not retain; switch interviews reveal which forces went wrong.
- **Onboarding a new product team.** Workshop creates shared mental model of what the customer is hiring the product to do.

## JTBD Foundations

### Christensen: Hiring a Product to Make Progress

Christensen's framing: customers "hire" products to do a job. They "fire" a product when a better candidate appears. The job is the customer's underlying desired progress -- not the product category, and not the demographic.

The famous milkshake example: customers buying milkshakes at 8am were not hiring the shake as a beverage. They were hiring it to make their morning commute less boring (job) and tide them over until lunch (outcome). The competition was not Burger King -- it was bananas, bagels, and boredom itself.

**Implications:**

- Define competition by alternative *hires* for the job, not by product category.
- A job is timeless and stable. Solutions change; jobs do not.
- Functional, social, and emotional dimensions all matter (the milkshake also signaled "I'm taking care of myself").

### Ulwick: Outcome-Driven Innovation

Ulwick's ODI argues that a job is too abstract to act on without measurable outcomes. He decomposes a job into a hierarchy:

```
Job: [Verb] + [Object] + [Context]
  e.g., "Close the books at month-end"
   |
   +-- Desired Outcome 1: Minimize [time/effort/error/cost] of [step]
   |   e.g., "Minimize time to reconcile payment processor to general ledger"
   +-- Desired Outcome 2: Minimize ...
   +-- Desired Outcome N: Minimize ...
```

Each desired outcome is scored on:

- **Importance** (1-10): How important is this outcome to the customer?
- **Satisfaction** (1-10): How well are current solutions performing?

**Opportunity score** = Importance + max(Importance - Satisfaction, 0)

Outcomes with high importance and low satisfaction are the highest-value innovation opportunities.

### Klement: The JTBD Canvas

Klement's JTBD canvas surfaces the *situation-motivation-outcome* structure that became the job story format:

```
When [situation],
I want to [motivation],
So I can [outcome].
```

The situation is the trigger context. The motivation is the customer's desire in that moment. The outcome is the progress they want to make. This format is the bridge from workshop output to backlog (`execution/job-stories/`).

### Moesta: Switch Interviews and Forces of Progress

Bob Moesta (working with Christensen) developed the switch interview method to surface the *moment* a customer hired or fired a product. The interview reconstructs the timeline:

```
[First Thought] -> [Passive Looking] -> [Active Looking] -> [Deciding] -> [First Use]
```

At each step, four forces are in play:

| Force | Direction | Description |
|-------|-----------|-------------|
| **Push of the situation** | Pro-switch | What is bad about the current state? |
| **Pull of the new solution** | Pro-switch | What is attractive about the alternative? |
| **Anxiety of the new solution** | Anti-switch | What worries the customer about switching? |
| **Habit of the present** | Anti-switch | What ties the customer to the status quo? |

A switch happens when Push + Pull > Anxiety + Habit. Most products under-invest in reducing Anxiety and Habit, and over-invest in increasing Pull.

## Workshop Formats

### Format A: 2-Hour Mini-Workshop

**Use when:** Team needs a fast reset; existing job hypothesis to validate; tight stakeholder calendar.

**Outcome:** Validated top 3 jobs and an aligned vocabulary.

| Time | Block | Outcome |
|------|-------|---------|
| 0:00 | Welcome + JTBD primer (10 min) | Shared vocabulary |
| 0:10 | Read 2 pre-workshop switch interview transcripts (15 min) | Grounded in customer voice |
| 0:25 | Job statement drafting -- individuals, then group (20 min) | 5-10 candidate job statements |
| 0:45 | Dot vote on top 3 jobs (10 min) | Top 3 jobs identified |
| 0:55 | Decompose top 3 into 3-5 desired outcomes each (30 min) | Outcome list |
| 1:25 | Forces-of-progress quick-map for the #1 job (20 min) | Push/Pull/Anxiety/Habit list |
| 1:45 | Synthesis + next-steps (15 min) | Owner per outcome, 90-day plan |

### Format B: 4-Hour Half-Day Workshop

**Use when:** Team has interview transcripts but no shared job hierarchy; pre-roadmap planning.

**Outcome:** Ranked job hierarchy, outcome scoring, forces map, and 5-10 opportunity statements.

| Time | Block | Outcome |
|------|-------|---------|
| 0:00 | Welcome + JTBD primer (20 min) | Shared vocabulary |
| 0:20 | Review 4-6 switch interview summaries (30 min) | Customer voice grounding |
| 0:50 | Job statement drafting individually (20 min) | Individual lists |
| 1:10 | Group cluster + write job hierarchy (40 min) | Big job + sub-jobs |
| 1:50 | Break (10 min) | -- |
| 2:00 | Decompose top 3 jobs into outcomes (45 min) | Outcome list per job |
| 2:45 | Score outcomes (Importance x Satisfaction) (30 min) | Opportunity scores |
| 3:15 | Forces-of-progress map for top job (30 min) | Forces canvas filled |
| 3:45 | Synthesis: prioritized opportunity list + next steps (15 min) | Deliverables agreed |

### Format C: 8-Hour Full-Day Workshop (or 2 x 4hr)

**Use when:** New product, new segment, or major strategy reset; minimum 6 participants from the product trio plus 2 customer-facing roles.

**Outcome:** Full job hierarchy, ODI-scored outcomes, completed forces map for top 3 jobs, journey map, and a 10-15 opportunity statement bank with owners.

| Time | Block | Outcome |
|------|-------|---------|
| 0:00 | Welcome + JTBD primer + workshop contracts (30 min) | Vocabulary, ground rules |
| 0:30 | Live switch interview with a customer (60 min, recorded) | Live customer voice |
| 1:30 | Group debrief: extract jobs, pains, gains from interview (30 min) | First snippet wall |
| 2:00 | Break (15 min) | -- |
| 2:15 | Review 6-10 additional transcripts; build snippet wall (60 min) | Coded snippets |
| 3:15 | Lunch (45 min) | -- |
| 4:00 | Cluster snippets into job hierarchy (60 min) | Big job + 5-8 sub-jobs |
| 5:00 | Decompose into desired outcomes (45 min) | 25-40 outcomes total |
| 5:45 | Break (15 min) | -- |
| 6:00 | Score outcomes with ODI (Importance x Satisfaction) (45 min) | Opportunity scores |
| 6:4