Discovery · Evolved from Jobs-to-be-Done
Jobs-to-be-Done (Agent-Aware)
Model customer progress through the functional, emotional, and social jobs they hire a product to perform. Extended in AI-era practice to include the jobs an agent performs on the customer's behalf, with explicit delegation boundaries.
Executive Guidance
How to hold this framework as a leader
Jobs-to-be-Done is the most durable framing device in enterprise product work because it forces the organization to describe progress from the customer's vantage point rather than the org chart's. In the AI era its highest value is deciding what to delegate: which jobs the human must keep, which the agent can perform under supervision, and which the agent may execute autonomously.
A serious JTBD engagement produces three separable artifacts: a job map for the customer, a delegation map for the agent, and a trust ladder that governs how autonomy is earned. Executives should read the delegation map as a statement of risk appetite, not a feature list.
When to Apply
- Entering a new market or segment where problem framing is unclear
- Evaluating whether an AI capability should be assistive or autonomous
- Reframing a stagnating product around unmet outcomes
AI-Era Notes
Separate the human's job-to-be-done from the agent's job-to-be-delegated. Document escalation triggers where the agent must return control. Capture the trust threshold required before customers delegate irreversible actions.
Key Trade-off
Clarifies problem framing but can rationalize delegating jobs to agents without user trust in place.
Operating Sequence
The order in which to install the framework
- 01Identify the two or three most consequential jobs your product is hired for.
- 02For each job, describe the functional, emotional, and social dimensions in the customer's language.
- 03Draft a delegation map that separates human-owned steps from agent-eligible steps.
- 04Define escalation triggers where the agent must return control and the events that erode trust.
- 05Validate the delegation map with the customer segment before any capability is scoped.
Key Artifacts
The documents this framework produces
Job Map
Sequenced steps the customer takes to make progress, independent of solution.
Owner: Product
Delegation Map
Which job steps are human-owned, assistive, or agent-eligible.
Owner: Product + Design
Trust Ladder
Preconditions a customer must experience before granting expanded agent autonomy.
Owner: Product + Research
Operating Checklist
What "good" looks like when installed
Framing
- The job is described in the customer's language, not internal terminology.
- Functional, emotional, and social dimensions are captured for each core job.
- The job is separable from any solution currently in market.
Delegation
- Each job step is tagged: human-owned, assistive, or agent-eligible.
- Escalation triggers are defined for every agent-eligible step.
- Reversibility of each agent action is classified.
Evidence
- Delegation appetite is validated with at least 8 customer interviews per segment.
- Trust thresholds are informed by observed rather than stated behavior.
- No agent job is assumed acceptable without explicit customer consent.
Common Antipatterns
- Using JTBD as a marketing exercise without evidence
- Assuming AI can perform emotional or social jobs without user consent
Boardroom Questions
- Which of the jobs we perform for our customers are we defensibly the best at?
- Where are we assuming customer trust we have not actually earned?
- What is the reputational cost if an agent performs one of these jobs incorrectly?