How to Conduct a Jobs-to-be-Done Interview That Uncovers Unspoken Customer Desires
The unspoken desires of a single person? Five people? Thirty people? At what point have we truly tested this in the market? JTBD interviews aren't just a process—they're a journey into the minds of customers. And yet, the value they uncover goes far beyond what most people expect. Let's explore how to conduct JTBD interviews that truly matter, while questioning if there might already be a better way forward.
If you’re looking to conduct proper Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) interviews, I’ve got a couple of resources to help you out. First, there’s a Google Doc I created years ago, which serves as a cheat sheet for creating a JTBD framework. It’s raw but practical. Then there’s my polished guide to getting results from JTBD interviews, which I first published on Medium. These resources provide foundational guidance—but let's dive deeper into the why and how of JTBD interviews.
What Is the True Purpose of JTBD Interviews?
Let’s clear something up: JTBD has been co-opted by people in other disciplines, sometimes to the point of confusion. In those circles, there’s a belief that chatting with a handful of people can lead to groundbreaking insights. And, hey, if you’re doing exploratory research or ethnography, maybe it can—to an extent. But in the innovation world—the fuzzy front-end where stakes are high—we’ve got to be more rigorous. Multi-million-dollar investments depend on it. Coffee and donuts won’t cut it here; we need systems, structure, and reproducibility.
The real purpose of JTBD interviews isn’t just to uncover insights in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s about understanding how people—a lot of people—frame challenges, problems, and objectives, as well as how they measure success in those contexts. It’s about identifying patterns and uncovering opportunities that are too big to see from the anecdotal level.
This isn’t something you can deduce from a quick conversation. It requires structured data collection and analysis—and lots of it. Think of JTBD interviews as Step 1 in a longer, evidence-driven process. They’re not an endpoint, but a starting line. And to run the full marathon, you need to see these interviews for what they really are: a systematic approach to uncovering unspoken, unmet needs. Not prioritized pain points.
Innovation demands unshackling ourselves from existing solutions. JTBD interviews provide a solution-free lens to understand the jobs people are trying to get done, creating the foundation for products and services that go beyond incremental improvements.
How to Conduct JTBD Interviews
Here’s the TL;DR of my JTBD interview process, which has been honed over years of experience and detailed in the article I linked to above:
Conduct Jobs-to-be-Done Interviews – Focus on the core functional job rather than products or buying processes. These interviews should dig deep into what people are truly trying to achieve, not how they’re currently achieving it.
Define the Market – Look for a group of people tackling a core job, keeping a solution-agnostic perspective. This ensures you’re studying the right problem.
Identify the Job Executor – Pinpoint the end users, support teams, and decision-makers, tailoring your approach to each role. Not everyone involved in the job views it the same way.
Formulate the Job Statement – Create a clear, solution-free core job statement that everyone can align on. It should be actionable and measurable.
Create a Job Map – Break the job into steps like locate, prepare, execute, monitor, and conclude. These steps provide a roadmap to understand where inefficiencies and frustrations exist.
Capture Desired Outcome Statements – Develop measurable performance metrics customers use to evaluate success. These are the criteria by which your solutions will ultimately be judged.
Guide Interview Discussions – Use probing questions to uncover job steps, challenges, and outcomes. Avoid solution-focused conversations, as they can bias your understanding.
Iterate and Validate – Refine your job map and outcomes through feedback loops with stakeholders and job executors.
Develop a Customer Value Model – Turn interviews into an actionable framework for quantitatively validating your hypthoses.
Prioritize Outcomes via Surveys – Identify unmet needs and hidden opportunities through quantitative prioritization. This is where the data comes alive.
It’s a lot of work, but this structured process is what separates the amateurs from the experts. The proprietary value of this JTBD research approach lies in the nuances most self-proclaimed “experts” miss. It’s about being thorough, thoughtful, and relentless in pursuit of clarity.
Why I Don’t Conduct JTBD Interviews Anymore
I’ve evolved. Generative AI has changed the game, allowing us to rethink research workflows entirely. Traditional JTBD interviews—while valuable—are just a means to an end. They’re not irreplaceable. And in many cases, they’re not even the most efficient path to actionable insights anymore.
Here’s the breakthrough: AI enables scalable, consistent qualitative research without relying on interviews as the sole input. Post-survey one-on-ones? Sure, they’re still valuable for segment deep dives. But for the bulk of qualitative research, I’ve built a toolkit that allows us to:
Speed up modification and testing – Quickly iterate hypotheses and test ideas without the overhead of scheduling interviews.
Allow iterative problem definition – Redefine problems extensively and inexpensively before moving to quantitative phases.
Document advanced reasoning – Provide detailed justifications for why certain elements are included or excluded, giving stakeholders confidence.
Broaden and deepen insights – Add additional concepts to models for richer perspectives.
Equip with pre-built guides – Walk into stakeholder meetings with a fully prepared value discussion guide, increasing the likelihood of engagement and buy-in.
This toolkit has transformed my approach, enabling innovations research across domains:
Business Model Innovation
Network and Alliance Innovation
Enabling Process Innovation
Product Performance Innovation
Product System Innovation
Service Innovation
Channel Innovation
Brand Innovation
Customer Engagement Innovation
No more “workshop theater.” Innovators (and their stakeholders) don’t want distractions; they want actionable insights and clarity. And that’s exactly what this AI-driven toolkit provides. It lets us skip past the fluff and get straight to the core of what really matters.
The Future of JTBD Research
Traditional interviews were just the beginning. With AI, we can push beyond the limits of what was possible before, unlocking new dimensions of insight. Imagine a research workflow where every step is consistent, scalable, and designed to uncover hidden opportunities with precision. That’s what the future looks like.
And we’re working on it!
This is about more than just improving efficiency. It’s about fundamentally rethinking how we approach innovation research. By embracing AI and automation, we’re not just keeping up with the times—we’re staying ahead of them.
My Final Thoughts on JTBD Interviews
They’ve served their purpose, but the future is here. With AI-driven workflows and scalable tools, we can uncover customer desires—spoken and unspoken—more effectively than ever. It’s time to innovate the innovation process itself. Let’s move beyond the old ways and embrace the opportunities that new technologies make possible.
If you’d like to learn more, you can check out my courses on my website. If you already know that you’d like to accelerate the front-end of innovation using AI, here’s a link to my JTBD Masterclass.
Mike Boysen - www.pjtbd.com Why fail fast when you can succeed the first time?
Book an appointment: https://pjtbd.com/book-mike
Grab my JTBD Masterclass: https://mc.zeropivot.us/s/mc-1
Get the whole customer management thing done on a single platform: https://pjtbd.com/tech-stack