Every person who works has a job to be done, day in and day out (or, they should have a job to do, but we won’t get into organizational inefficiencies today).
Similarly, every team has a job to be done. The difference between teams and individuals is mostly a matter of resources. A team clearly has more leverage than an individual. A team can have complementary skillsets, a variety of personalities, and, of course, more capacity.
Perhaps less obviously, products also have jobs to be done. So says Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and multi-time bestselling author.
When you’re designing a product (or a team or an individual role), you have to first understand the job to be done. Why would your customer hire this product? Why would your organization create this team? Why would your team need this role? What’s the job to be done?
Starting with the job to be done makes it much easier to focus on features (or goals or responsibilities) that actually matter and move the needle. Start there.