Hello! Welcome to your second lesson.
In our first lesson, we established the importance of a product vision as the North Star that guides your product's direction. Now, it's time to zoom in from that high-level "why" to the specific "what" – the concrete problem your customers are facing.
Today, we'll focus on one of the most powerful frameworks in a product manager's toolkit: Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD). This framework will help you move beyond surface-level features to understand the deep, underlying needs of your customers. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use the JTBD framework to write clear and compelling problem statements that will keep your team focused on solving real customer issues.
The Core Idea: Customers "Hire" Products
Before we get into templates, it's essential to grasp the mindset behind JTBD. The core idea is simple but profound: customers don't just buy products; they hire them to make progress in their lives or to get a specific "job" done.
Your background in process optimization is directly applicable here. Just as you'd analyze a workflow to find bottlenecks and inefficiencies, the JTBD framework helps you diagnose a customer's life to find their "struggling moments." These are the moments that cause them to look for a new solution.
To hear this concept explained by one of its creators, Bob Moesta, watch this short clip from his interview on Lenny's Podcast.
The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework)
In this clip from 'The ultimate guide to JTBD,' co-creator Bob Moesta introduces the foundational concept of 'hiring' products and uses the classic Snickers vs. Milky Way example to illustrate how different products are hired for different jobs.
Watch from 04:53 to 07:06. Focus on understanding the difference between a product's features and the 'job' it performs for a customer in a specific context.
As Moesta explains, a Snickers bar isn't just competing with other candy bars; it's competing with a protein drink or a cup of coffee for the job of "quick hunger relief during a busy day." Understanding the job, not just the product category, is the key to true innovation.
The Struggling Moment: The Catalyst for Change
What triggers a customer to "fire" their current solution and "hire" a new one? Moesta calls this the struggling moment. It's the point where the old way of doing things is no longer good enough. Identifying this moment is the seed for your product idea.
Let's watch another short clip where Moesta explains this critical concept.
The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework)
This clip continues the discussion by focusing on the 'struggling moment' as the true cause of customer demand, rather than the product itself.
Watch from 07:34 to 09:56. Pay close attention to how he frames struggling moments as the starting point for product roadmaps and innovation.
Articulating the Job: The Job Story Framework
To make the JTBD concept actionable, we use a simple but powerful format called a Job Story. Unlike a traditional "User Story" which often focuses on a persona and an action, a Job Story focuses on the context and the motivation that drives the action.
The most common Job Story template is:
When [Situation], I want to [Motivation], so I can [Expected Outcome].
Let's break this down:
- When: This describes the context or the trigger. What's happening in the user's life?
- I want to: This is the core motivation or goal. What are they trying to achieve?
- So I can: This is the desired outcome. What does success look like for them?
To see this in action, the following article provides a concise explanation and examples.
Job Story (JTBD) - Learning Loop
This article from Learning Loop, titled 'Job Story (JTBD),' clearly defines the Job Story, its benefits, and its structure. It's a great quick reference.
Read the sections titled "The format of a Job Story" and the examples that follow. This will solidify your understanding of the 'When... I want to... so I can...' structure.
From Job Story to Problem Statement
A Job Story describes the ideal path. But to create a product, we need to understand what's getting in the way. That's where the problem statement comes in. It takes the Job Story and adds the crucial element of the obstacle.
Your preference for practical templates will be well-served here. A fantastic and widely-used template extends the Job Story to form a complete, empathetic problem statement.
How to write a problem statement: Template and examples
The article 'How to write a problem statement: Template and examples' from the LogRocket blog provides an excellent, actionable template that builds directly on the Job Story format.
Please read the sections "The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) Framework," "Problem statement template," and "Examples of realistic problem statements." Pay close attention to the template and how each element contributes to a full picture of the customer's problem.
As the article details, the full problem statement template is:
As a
[USER]
I'm trying to[MOTIVATION]
So I can[EXPECTED OUTCOME]
But[PROBLEM]
Which makes me feel[EMOTION]
Let's look at the components:
- [USER]: Who is experiencing this problem? (e.g., a product manager)
- [MOTIVATION] & [EXPECTED OUTCOME]: These come directly from your Job Story. What is the job they are trying to do? (e.g., I'm trying to understand key user pain points from interview transcripts so I can prioritize the right features.)
- [PROBLEM]: This is the obstacle. What is preventing them from getting the job done easily? (e.g., ...but sifting through hours of transcripts is slow and I'm afraid I'll miss important themes.)
- [EMOTION]: This is critical for building empathy and conveying the severity of the problem. (e.g., ...which makes me feel overwhelmed and uncertain.)
Test your understanding!
Let's apply this to a scenario directly related to your goal of being a GenAI Product Manager.
Scenario: Imagine a product manager who is an early adopter of generative AI. They use a general-purpose tool like ChatGPT to summarize customer support tickets to find bugs and feature requests. However, the summaries are often too generic, miss product-specific nuances, and sometimes "hallucinate" issues that don't exist, forcing the PM to double-check everything against the original tickets anyway.
Task: Write a problem statement for this product manager using the full five-part template.
Show answer
Here is a possible problem statement based on the scenario:
- As a data-driven product manager
- I'm trying to quickly analyze daily customer support tickets
- So I can identify emerging bugs and popular feature requests without manual effort.
- But the generic AI summaries I get are often inaccurate and miss important context, forcing me to re-read the tickets myself.
- Which makes me feel frustrated and distrustful of the tool, defeating the purpose of using AI in the first place.
This statement is effective because it clearly defines the user, their goal, the specific obstacle they face with current solutions, and the resulting negative emotion. This gives a product team a very clear problem to solve.
Key Takeaways
You've now learned a foundational technique for product discovery that connects directly to customer value.
- The Jobs-to-be-Done framework reframes product development around helping customers make progress in their lives.
- The "struggling moment" is the catalyst that creates demand for a new solution.
- A Job Story (
When... I want to... So I can...) is a simple format for articulating the customer's context, motivation, and desired outcome. - A complete Problem Statement adds the
But [Problem]andWhich makes me feel [Emotion]to create a clear, empathetic, and actionable directive for your team.
Next Up
We've now defined the vision for our product and the specific problem it solves. The next logical question is: who are we solving this problem for? In our next lesson, you'll learn how to synthesize customer research data to create user personas, giving your team a clear and relatable picture of the people whose "jobs" you're trying to get done.