Jobs to be Done

Competing Against Luck - Christensen et al. (2016) | The Innovator’s Solution - Christensen & Raynor (2003)

Jobs to be Done (JTBD) is an innovation framework stating that customers do not buy products or services, they “hire” them to make progress in a specific circumstance. Originated by Clayton M. Christensen at Harvard Business School, first introduced in The Innovator’s Solution (2003) with Michael Raynor, then formalized in Competing Against Luck (2016) with Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan. The core insight: understanding the “job” the customer is trying to get done, not demographics or product attributes, is the causal mechanism behind successful innovation. The framework shifts product strategy from “who is the customer” to “what progress is the customer trying to make in this situation.” Theodore Levitt’s famous dictum captures the spirit: “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”