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The Innovative
Framework Behind
Hire Your FoodTM

Seeing food as something
we hire to do important jobs in our lives.
Food scientist with marketing executive designing an afternoon snack
A Brief Introduction to Jobs-to-be-Done

Most people think innovation begins with better products.


Better features.
Better ingredients.
Better technology.


But some of the most influential thinkers in innovation discovered something different:​

  • People don’t buy products.

  • They hire them.

What Is Jobs-to-be-Done?

Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) is an innovation framework advanced by:

  • Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School¹

  • Anthony Ulwick, founder of Outcome-Driven Innovation²

  • Scott Burleson, creator of The Jobs-To-Be-Done Pyramid™³

  • Jim Kalbach, author of The Jobs To Be Done Playbook4

 

At its core, the theory proposes:

Customers “hire” products to make progress in a specific situation.

 

A person doesn’t just buy a milkshake for flavor. They may hire it to make a commute more enjoyable, prevent mid-morning hunger, or avoid messy alternatives.¹

 

The product is visible.


The job is invisible.

Jobs Operate at Multiple Levels

Modern JTBD thinking recognizes that jobs are layered:​

  1. Functional Jobs – What practical task am I trying to accomplish?

  2. Emotional Jobs – How do I want to feel?

  3. Identity Jobs – Who do I want to be?³

 

Clayton Christensen famously explained that customers “hire” products to help them make progress in their lives.¹

 

Anthony Ulwick demonstrated that customers evaluate solutions based on how well they help them achieve desired outcomes.²

 

Scott Burleson expanded the model further, highlighting how identity and emotional layers often drive decision-making more powerfully than functional utility.³

​

Jim Kalbach guides the JTBD practitioners with a step-by-step playbook to help organisations turn market insight into actionable insights.4

References
Competing against Luck by Clayton Christensen

Clayton M. Christensen:
The Jobs To Be Done Theory

Jobs To Be Done by Anthony Ulwick
Jobs to Be Done by Scott Burleson
Jobs To Be Done by Jim Kalbach
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