Define jtbd canvas

Skill product-on-purpose/pm-skills/skills/define-jtbd-canvas

Creates a Jobs to be Done canvas capturing the functional, emotional, and social dimensions of a customer job. Use when deeply understanding customer motivations, designing for jobs, or reframing product positioning.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add product-on-purpose/pm-skills --skill define-jtbd-canvas

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SKILL.md

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Jobs to be Done Canvas

A Jobs to be Done (JTBD) canvas captures the complete picture of why customers "hire" products to make progress in their lives. Based on Clayton Christensen's framework, JTBD goes beyond features and demographics to understand the underlying motivations.functional, emotional, and social.that drive customer behavior.

When to Use

When deeply researching customer motivations before building
To reframe product positioning around customer progress
When existing personas feel too surface-level or demographic
During competitive analysis to identify why customers switch
When designing marketing messages that resonate
To align team on who the customer really is and what they need

When NOT to Use

You need a person-shaped artifact (goals, behaviors, quotes) for design or marketing work -> use foundation-persona; the canvas captures the job, the persona captures the person
You have no customer research yet -> synthesize interviews first with discover-interview-synthesis; the canvas's insights must trace to research, not assumptions
You are framing one specific problem to solve now -> use define-problem-statement
You need to map opportunities to a measurable outcome for prioritization -> use define-opportunity-tree

Instructions

When asked to create a JTBD canvas, follow these steps:

Identify the Job Performer Define who is doing this job. Go beyond demographics to capture the circumstance they're in. The same person can have different jobs in different situations.
Articulate the Circumstance Describe when and where this job arises. Jobs are triggered by specific situations. Understanding context helps predict when customers will seek a solution.
Write the Job Statement Use the format: "When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [desired outcome]." The job statement captures the core progress the customer seeks.
Define the Functional Job What is the practical task the customer needs to accomplish? This is the tangible, measurable part of the job. Be specific about what "done" looks like.
Capture the Emotional Job How does the customer want to feel during and after the job? Emotional jobs often drive decisions more than functional ones. Include both desired feelings and feelings to avoid.
Identify the Social Job How does the customer want to be perceived by others? Social jobs relate to status, identity, and relationships. Not all jobs have strong social dimensions.
Map Competing Solutions What are customers currently "hiring" to do this job? Include direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and non-consumption (doing nothing). Understanding current solutions reveals what to compete against.
Define Hiring Criteria What makes customers choose one solution over another? What are the "must haves" vs. "nice to haves"? This informs positioning and prioritization.

Output Format

Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md to structure the output. A complete canvas fills every template section: Job Overview; Job Performer; The Circumstance; Job Statement; Functional Job; Emotional Job; Social Job; Competing Solutions; Hiring Criteria; Insights and Implications; Supporting Quotes; and Questions for Further Research.

Quality Checklist

Before finalizing, verify:

Job statement follows "When... I want... so I can..." format
Circumstance is specific (not just "anytime")
Functional job describes tangible outcome
Emotional job includes how customer wants to feel
Competing solutions include non-obvious alternatives
Insights are based on research, not assumptions

Examples

See references/EXAMPLE.md for a completed example.

What ships with it: 4 files

18.6 KB alongside SKILL.md

evals/

trigger-fixtures.json4.2 KB

references/

EXAMPLE.md9.2 KB
TEMPLATE.md4.5 KB

HISTORY.md725 B

Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most product growth skills give in 795 tokens

Counted across 694 of the 879 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-09-06

Check for product marketing context firstin 49 of 694, across 20 files
Validate the why before building featuresin 18 of 694, across 4 files
Respond to every comment in real-timein 17 of 694, across 6 files
Structure launch marketing across three channel typesin 16 of 694, across 4 files
Recruit early users one-on-onein 13 of 694, across 2 files
Ask one question at a timein 13 of 694
Rank features using ICE scoringin 12 of 694, across 3 files
Identify primary conversion goalin 11 of 694, across 3 files
Identify traffic contextin 11 of 694, across 3 files
Evaluate headline effectivenessin 11 of 694, across 3 files
Check visual hierarchy and scannabilityin 11 of 694, across 3 files
Run product diagnosticsin 11 of 694, across 3 files

Said here and by no other author read

Identify the job performer
Articulate the circumstance
Write the job statement
Define the functional job
Capture the emotional job
Identify the social job

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.