Jobs to be Done in Tech

The core argument of the paper is that most tech innovation fails because companies focus on products, features, and personas rather than on the underlying reasons customers behave as they do. Jobs to be Done (JTBD) reframes innovation around the functional and emotional “Jobs” customers are trying to accomplish. By focusing on why customers buy, use, or avoid solutions—rather than what they say they want—tech firms can escape incremental feature wars and identify entirely new growth vectors. This shift broadens competitive boundaries, reveals non-obvious competitors, and grounds innovation in real customer motivations rather than internal assumptions.

• Move beyond features, UX flows, and personas to underlying customer motivations

• Treat products as tools customers “hire” to get Jobs done

• Redefine competition to include non-consumption and DIY workarounds

• Unlock new growth vectors by understanding emotional and social Jobs

• Avoid backward-looking research that limits innovation to existing behaviors

• Ground innovation in real customer language, not internal product logic

• Use JTBD to identify where customers overserve or underserve themselves

• Design solutions that fit customers’ lives, not just technical requirements