Common Pitfalls and Misunderstandings of Product Teams & Researchers

YOU'RE INVITED!! Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a useful UXR framework for understanding customer needs, but it’s often misunderstood and misapplied. Join us for a workshop led by Jim Kalbach, who wrote the actual book on JTBD! Participate live on 5/22/25 or watch the replay.

Here are common pitfalls and misunderstandings relevant to product teams and researchers:

1. Confusing Jobs with Tasks or Features

Misunderstanding: People often think a "job" is a task like “upload a file” or “share a doc”

Reality: JTBD is about the underlying progress someone is trying to make, like “collaborate with X efficiently” or “look professional to X”

2. Focusing Too Much on the Product

Misunderstanding: Teams often frame the job around their own product, which narrows insight

Reality: JTBD is product-agnostic. It should describe what people want to accomplish with or without your product

3. Ignoring Emotional and Social Jobs

Misunderstanding: Some only focus on functional jobs (e.g., "book a flight")

Reality: Many decisions are driven by emotional (e.g., “feel in control”) or social (e.g., “look smart in front of X”) factors. These can be equally or more important than the functional

4. Overcomplicating the Framework

Misunderstanding: JTBD must follow a rigid structure or specific terminology (like "main job," "related job," "job executor")

Reality: While structure helps, the goal is clarity. JTBD should help teams understand motivation, not become an academic exercise

5. Treating JTBD Like Personas

Misunderstanding: Teams map jobs to user types or demographics

Reality: Multiple people with different backgrounds can have the same job JTBD is contextual, not demographic

6. Using JTBD Without Real Customer/User Input

Misunderstanding: Teams sometimes brainstorm jobs internally without talking to users

Reality: JTBD must be grounded in research. Without direct input, you risk projecting assumptions

7. Thinking There’s Only One Job

Misunderstanding: Teams can latch onto a single job & ignore the full ecosystem

Reality: People often have a core job, plus supporting jobs. For example, in buying software, there’s the job of evaluating options, getting buy-in, & feeling confident in the choice

8. Not Updating Jobs Over Time

Misunderstanding: Teams treat JTBD as a one-time exercise

Reality: Jobs evolve as technology, expectations, or circumstances change. JTBD insights need periodic validation

9. Misaligning JTBD with Business Metrics

Misunderstanding: Teams fail to connect jobs to business outcomes

Reality: Good JTBD insights should inform product strategy and growth levers (e.g., acquisition, retention, and engagement)

10. Over-Relying on JTBD Alone

Misunderstanding: Some teams treat JTBD as a silver bullet

Reality: JTBD is a lens, one of many tools. It works best when combined with usage data, ethnography, usability testing, and broader UX frameworks

The registration link is below. Hope to see you there!