Jobs to be done

When this is useful

You need a structured decision rather than a universal marketing formula.

Required inputs

Describe the situation and job independently of your product; collect interviews and observable success criteria.

Worked example — fictional

Fictional: a founder wants to understand why qualified trials stall. The job could be diagnosing adoption barriers, rather than buying another dashboard.

Original worksheet

Download our evidence worksheet; upstream diagrams and proprietary templates are not redistributed.

Put it to work

1. Define the decision and gather the stated inputs.
2. Apply the method while retaining uncertainty and contrary evidence.
3. Choose a next observation and write the conditions for revisiting the decision.

Limits and tradeoffs

This is an introduction to the cited approach, not a reproduction of proprietary research procedures or a claim that interviews quantify a market.

Worksheet preview

# Jobs to be done: original decision worksheet

Attribution: Jon Bishop. CC BY 4.0. Framework source: https://strategyn.com/jobs-to-be-done/

This is an original worksheet, not a copy of the source artifact.

## Decision

What decision must this exercise inform? Who owns it? What evidence would change it?

## Inputs

Describe the situation and job independently of your product; collect interviews and observable success criteria.

For each input, record: observation | source | date | affected population | confidence | unresolved question.

## Application

1. Define one concrete decision and comparison period.
2. Record evidence separately from estimates.
3. Apply the method and inspect the assumptions that drive the result.
4. State the next observation or test and its decision rule.

## Worked example — fictional

Fictional: a founder wants to understand why qualified trials stall. The job could be diagnosing adoption barriers, rather than buying another dashboard.

## Limits

This is an introduction to the cited approach, not a reproduction of proprietary research procedures or a claim that interviews quantify a market.

## Output

Decision: ___
Evidence supporting it: ___
Contradictory or missing evidence: ___
Next action and owner: ___
Revisit when: ___