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Jobs To Be Done Framework

Customers hire products to do a job. Define the job, not the demographic.

A free, animated jobs to be done framework you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Jobs To Be Done Framework

Jobs To Be Done FrameworkChristensen: customers hire products to do a job, not because of demographicsJOB DIMENSIONS

A JTBD canvas: situation -> motivation -> desired outcome -> hired solution. Functional, social, and emotional dimensions of the job are layered. A worked example (the milkshake job) makes the framework concrete.

Good for

  • Product strategy articles explaining why feature investment should follow job-based segmentation
  • Founder content on early customer discovery and why demographic personas mislead
  • Innovation framework explainers illustrating how the JTBD lens reveals uncontested market space

Source & accuracy

This jobs to be done framework is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Customers hire products to do jobs, not to fit demographics

A 25-year-old millennial buying a minivan is not 'a millennial demographic shift.' They are hiring the minivan to do the job of 'safely transport my kids and sports gear.' A 65-year-old buying a gaming laptop is hiring it to stay sharp and connected, not because they fit a gamer demographic. Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) flips the analysis: instead of segmenting by age, gender, income, and assuming those predict behavior, ask what job the customer is trying to accomplish and what alternatives they considered. A customer evaluating Slack isn't choosing between Slack and Teams; they're choosing between Slack, Teams, email, group chat, phone, and 'just yell across the office.' Understanding the true competition and the job reveals why they pick your product or don't.

Jobs reveal the functional and emotional drivers of choice

A customer shopping for a car is hiring it for functional transport, but also for status, safety, identity, or family security. Ignoring the emotional job and selling only on fuel efficiency misses the real decision. JTBD interviews (contextual, observational) are harder than demographic research, but they reveal the actual constraints and anxieties driving choice. A mom hiring a stroller isn't just looking for something that holds a baby; she's hiring a product to simplify outings, look respectable in public, and feel like she's a good parent. Products that recognize all three jobs win. Those optimizing only for holding-a-baby lose to competitors who solve the identity problem too.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated jobs to be done framework to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated jobs to be done framework for any website.
Who uses it
Startup blogs, SaaS marketing blogs.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet
<div data-scrollchart="jobs-to-be-done" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Jobs To Be Done Framework" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Jobs To Be Done Framework" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I add a jobs to be done framework to a finance or business article?
Copy the embed snippet from the Scrollchart page for this diagram and paste it anywhere in your article HTML. It is compatible with WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, and static HTML pages. No account or API key is needed.