Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework developed by Clayton Christensen and others that reframes product thinking around the 'job' a customer is trying to accomplish — the progress they're seeking in a given circumstance. The core insight: 'People don't want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.'
JTBD analysis focuses on understanding: - Functional jobs: The practical task the customer needs to complete - Emotional jobs: How the customer wants to feel (secure, confident, respected) - Social jobs: How the customer wants to be perceived by others
Customer feedback is rich JTBD research material. When users request a feature, they're describing the functional job. When they express frustration, they're revealing an emotional job not being met. When they say 'we need enterprise features to be taken seriously,' they're describing a social job.
FeatureSay's AI helps surface JTBD patterns from feedback — not just what features are requested, but what underlying jobs the requests point to. This shifts the product conversation from 'should we build X feature?' to 'what job does the customer need done, and what's the best way to do it?'