To effectively innovate and identify where customers are struggling, the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework relies on deconstructing the core functional job into a Job Map.

Here is a detailed elaboration of what the Job Map is, how it utilizes the eight universal process steps, and why it is critical for uncovering inefficiencies.

1. What is a Job Map?

A Job Map is a visual depiction of the core functional job deconstructed into its discrete process steps.

• A “Needs” View, Not a “Solution” View: A common mistake is mapping what a customer is doing with a current product. A true Job Map describes what the customer is trying to get done, completely independent of the competing solutions or technologies they are currently using.

• Focus on Underlying Goals: For example, instead of describing an anesthesiologist as “looking at the display” (which describes a specific technological solution), a Job Map would define the step as “monitoring the patient’s vital signs” (the underlying goal).

• Not a Customer Journey Map: It is important to distinguish the Job Map from a customer journey or experience map. It does not map out the consumption chain—such as how a customer buys, receives, sets up, uses, or maintains a specific product.

2. The Eight Universal Process Steps

Analysis of hundreds of jobs reveals that every job, regardless of the market, consists of some or all of eight fundamental process steps.

By breaking down the core job into this universal framework, you can study the job precisely as a Six Sigma engineer would study a manufacturing process:

1. Define: Planning the execution and determining what is needed to get the job done.

2. Locate: Gathering the necessary inputs or items required.

3. Prepare: Setting up the environment or inputs for execution.

4. Confirm: Verifying that everything is ready for the core execution.

5. Execute: Carrying out the core task.

6. Monitor: Assessing whether the execution is proceeding as planned.

7. Modify: Making adjustments to execution based on the monitoring phase.

8. Conclude: Wrapping up the job and preparing for the next cycle.

3. How Deconstruction Reveals Inefficiencies

Deconstructing the job into these eight steps is the key to moving innovation from guesswork to a predictable science. Here is how it exposes inefficiencies:

• Mapping Desired Outcomes to Each Step: Once the ideal process flow is mapped out across these eight steps, you can capture the customer’s “desired outcomes” (the exact metrics they use to measure success) for every single step. It is common to uncover between 50 and 150 specific desired outcome statements across a single Job Map.

• Spotting Holes in Current Solutions: Because the Job Map is solution-agnostic, comparing existing products against it immediately highlights inefficiencies. You will often find that current products only help the customer execute a fraction of the steps (e.g., they help “execute” but offer no help with “prepare” or “monitor”).

• The Ultimate Innovation Strategy: The completed Job Map lays out the long-term innovation strategy for your organization. By identifying the steps that are currently inefficient or completely unaddressed by the market, your ultimate goal is to devise a breakthrough solution that gets the entire job done efficiently on a single platform.