✅ Why this step anchors everything in what the user is actually trying to do
If you don’t understand the job, you’ll build the wrong tool.
The Customer Jobs block of the Value Proposition Canvas defines what your customer wants to achieve—functionally, emotionally, and socially. These are the tasks, goals, or problems they’re trying to solve in their work or life. Understanding jobs lets you build for relevance, not just novelty.
📘 What you’ll define
- Functional jobs: practical tasks, workflows, or processes
- Emotional jobs: how they want to feel or avoid feeling
- Social jobs: how they want to be perceived by others
- Related context: when, where, and how these jobs occur
- Which jobs are critical vs. secondary
🛠️ Tools and methods
✅ Customer Jobs Checklist
Interview real users about what they’re trying to do—not just what they use
Capture 3 types of jobs: functional, emotional, social
Prioritise based on frequency, importance, or difficulty
Note jobs customers are currently struggling to complete
Include edge cases or context-specific variations
Use “Jobs to Be Done” phrasing: “When I ___, I want to ___, so I can ___”
Example Customer Jobs Table
| Job Type | Job Statement | Priority |
| Functional | Install sensor quickly without technical training | High |
| Functional | Monitor equipment remotely and know when to intervene | High |
| Emotional | Feel confident the system won’t fail when I’m not watching | Medium |
| Social | Look capable and tech-savvy in front of my team | Low |
| Contextual | Install in bad lighting and loud environments | Medium |
- Combine insights from interviews, diaries, support tickets, and observational data
- Use these jobs to guide all value proposition choices—not just features
⚠️ Mistakes to avoid
- Writing vague “needs” instead of clear, observable jobs
- Confusing solutions with jobs (e.g. “Needs a dashboard” = solution, not job)
- Overlooking emotional and social context—especially in B2B
- Not ranking jobs by urgency or importance
💡 From insight-led teams
“We realised users didn’t want more data—they wanted to know when to act. That shift changed our whole roadmap.”– Head of Product, Industrial IoT Platform
💡 Design for the job—not the workflow. Users will adapt tools, but only if they solve what matters.
🔗 Helpful links & resources
- JTBD Interview Script
- Download: Customer Job Prioritisation Sheet
- Article: How to Use Jobs to Be Done to Build Meaningful Products
- Follow-on: Pains
✍️ Quick self-check
Have we captured what users are actually trying to do—not just what they use now?
Are jobs clearly worded and testable?
Have we included emotional and social jobs, not just tasks?
Are top jobs linked directly to our value proposition?
🎨 Visual concept (optional)
Illustration: Three “job cards” pinned on a board: “Get notified before failure”, “Look capable in meetings”, “Install device quickly”. Arrows connect each to sticky notes representing product responses.
Visual shows how understanding customer jobs focuses everything—from product design to messaging—on what users really care about.