Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) Interview Matrix

Template Overview

Traditional customer research often focuses on demographic attributes (age, location, job title) that have zero causal power over purchasing decisions. A 35-year-old engineer in New York does not buy software because they are 35 or live in New York; they buy it because they are desperate to make progress in a specific struggling situation.

The Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) framework uncovers the true causal mechanisms behind customer choices: the exact moment a user decided to fire their old tool and hire a new one.

This template organizes your JTBD interview: reconstructing the customer switching timeline, analyzing the Four Forces of Progress, identifying emotional and social jobs, and formulating actionable product positioning.

Markdown Template Structure

Copy the block below or click Download .md File to add this template directly to your personal vault:

---
title: "JTBD Switch Interview: [Customer ID / Switch Event]"
date: [YYYY-MM-DD]
interviewee_id: "JTBD-12"
product_hired: "Oyma Local Markdown Notes"
product_fired: "Legacy Cloud Transcription SaaS"
interviewer: "[[Lead Product Researcher]]"
core_job_statement: "When I lead confidential client meetings, I want to capture structured notes automatically, so I can give my full attention to the client without worrying about data privacy leaks."
tags: [jtbd, jobs-to-be-done, research, customer-discovery, switch-interview]
---

# JTBD Switch Interview: [Customer ID / Switch Event] — [YYYY-MM-DD]

## 1. The Customer Switch Timeline
- **First Thought:** 6 months ago when client company instituted a strict ban on external cloud AI bots in video calls.
- **Passive Looking:** Noticed colleagues taking manual notes and complaining about lost productivity.
- **Active Looking:** Triggered when the participant accidentally recorded a privileged deposition on a cloud tool, causing a stressful IT review.
- **Deciding:** Researched 'local offline transcription for Mac'; downloaded local template gallery.
- **Hiring & Consuming:** Switched 100% of meeting workflows to local on-device Markdown notes within 3 days.

## 2. The Four Forces of Progress Analysis
| Force Dimension | Dynamic | Customer Evidence & Quotes |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Push of Current Situation** | Frustration with old solution | "I had knots in my stomach every time an uninvited cloud meeting bot joined my Zoom call." |
| **Pull of New Solution** | Attraction to new promise | "The promise that audio never leaves my Apple Silicon chip felt like an immense relief." |
| **Anxiety of New Solution** | Fear of the unknown | "I worried that local models wouldn't be as accurate as giant multi-billion dollar cloud models." |
| **Habit of the Present** | Inertia of old behaviors | "Our team had 3 years of old notes locked in the cloud tool's proprietary web format." |

## 3. Dimensionality of the Core Job
- **Functional Job:** Accurately transcribe spoken conversation and format notes into structured Markdown with action items.
- **Emotional Job:** Feel completely safe and confident that client confidentiality cannot be compromised.
- **Social Job:** Be seen by colleagues and clients as a trusted, hyper-competent, privacy-respecting professional.

## 4. Product Insights & Positioning Recommendations
> [!IMPORTANT] Core Strategic Insight
> Customers do not switch to local software merely for speed—they switch to eliminate the acute anxiety of corporate data leaks. All marketing copy should lead with emotional relief and data sovereignty.

- [ ] Incorporate 'Zero Uninvited Cloud Bots' headline into homepage variant.
- [ ] Create migration script to help users extract old notes from cloud tools into plain Markdown.

Filled Real-World Example

Here is a realistic example demonstrating how this template captures actual deliberations:

---
title: "JTBD Interview: JTBD-12 Trial Attorney"
date: 2026-10-07
interviewee_id: "JTBD-12"
product_hired: "Oyma"
product_fired: "Cloud Transcription Bot"
tags: [jtbd, switch-interview]
---

# JTBD Interview: JTBD-12 Trial Attorney — October 7, 2026

## 1. Trigger Event
Corporate client warned attorney that cloud meeting bots violate legal privilege.

## 2. Core Job
Capture verbatim deposition testimony without third-party network egress.

## 3. Key Quote
"I fired cloud tools the moment I realized they store my audio on external servers." 

When to Use and When to Avoid

When to Use

• Use during Jobs-To-Be-Done switch interviews with recent customers who transitioned from a competitor.
• Use to map the Four Forces of Progress (Push, Pull, Anxiety, Habit) that drive software adoption.
• Use to craft high-conversion product positioning rooted in authentic customer struggling moments.

When to Avoid

• Avoid using for usability testing of button layouts (use [[usability-test-protocol]]).
• Avoid using for internal engineering architectural debates.

On-Device AI Integration

Capture Jobs-To-Be-Done switch interviews with Oyma on macOS:

Analyze the JTBD customer switch interview transcript:
1. Reconstruct the customer purchasing timeline from First Thought through Consuming.
2. Build the Four Forces of Progress matrix analyzing Push, Pull, Anxiety, and Habit with verbatim quotes.
3. Decompose the core job into its functional, emotional, and social dimensions.
4. Formulate strategic product positioning and messaging takeaways for marketing and engineering.
Output in disciplined, causal CommonMark format.

Your customer discovery transcripts and competitive switching intelligence stay strictly on your private Mac.