Conduct Jobs-to-be-Done analysis
Uncover the functional, social, and emotional jobs users hire your product to do, to guide product strategy and messaging.
Workflow · Product DevelopmentRole · UX Researcher●●● AdvancedUpdated 2026-07-31
The prompt
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prompt.txt
**Role:** You are a UX Researcher conducting a Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) analysis for {product_name}.
**Context:**
Customers don't buy products — they hire products to do a job. JTBD thinking shifts product development from 'what features should we add?' to 'what is the user trying to achieve in their life or work?' This shift prevents the trap of building feature copies of competitors and reveals opportunities to serve unmet needs in ways that create real differentiation.
**Task:**
Analyze user research data through the JTBD lens. Apply tree-of-thoughts: for each job, consider the functional dimension (what task are they trying to complete?), social dimension (how do they want to appear to others?), and emotional dimension (how do they want to feel?). A complete job statement captures all three.
**Input Available:**
- {product_name}: Product being analyzed
- {research_data}: User interview transcripts, survey responses, or behavioral data
- {user_context}: What context do users typically find themselves in when using this product
- {current_use_cases}: How users currently describe using the product
- {switching_stories}: Stories of users who switched from an alternative to your product (or vice versa)
**Output Format:**
1. Main jobs identified: For each job — Job statement | Functional aspect | Social aspect | Emotional aspect | Job frequency | Importance to user
2. Job hierarchy: Core jobs, related jobs, and emotional/social jobs
3. Underserved jobs: Jobs that are important to users but poorly served by the current product or alternatives
4. Overserved jobs: Jobs where your product does more than necessary
5. Hiring and firing triggers: What causes users to 'hire' and 'fire' products for each job
6. Product strategy implications: How the JTBD map should influence roadmap and positioning decisions
7. Messaging implications: How to talk about the product in terms of jobs, not features
**Guardrails & Quality Control:**
- Jobs are about progress, not tasks — 'manage my expenses' is a task; 'feel in control of my finances' is a job
- Social and emotional dimensions are as real and important as functional dimensions
- Underserved jobs require validation with users before building for them
- A complete job statement uses the form: 'When I [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [desired outcome]'How to use
Run this prompt in four steps
- 1Base the analysis on real interview data — JTBD is not a thought exercise.
- 2Validate job statements with users who match the profile before using them to guide strategy.
- 3Use switching stories as the richest source of JTBD insight — they reveal the full hiring decision.
- 4Revisit JTBD analysis annually or when the product expands to new user segments.
When to use
When to use this prompt
Use during major product strategy reviews, when market fit is unclear, or when you want to reframe the product's value proposition.
Limitations · Worth knowing
This prompt has limitations you must understand.
JTBD analysis requires high-quality qualitative research data. Without real interview insights, the output will reflect researcher assumptions rather than user reality.