Empathy in Design Thinking: Supercharged with Jobs-to-be-Done

The Empathize phase is the first step in the Design Thinking process, during which teams seek to gain a thorough understanding of their users. Designers gain insights into users' behaviors, motivations, pain points, and goals by using qualitative research methods such as observations, ad hoc interviews, and empathy mapping. The goal is to put yourself in the shoes of the users, learn about their experiences, and identify their needs.

Traditionally, the Empathize phase in Design Thinking uses tools such as:

• Interviews: Gather direct feedback from users about their needs, motivations, and pain points.
• Observations: Observe users in their natural environments as they interact with a product or services.
• Shadowing: Follow users in real time as they perform tasks related to the product or service.
• Contextual Inquiry: Observe the user as they perform a task and discuss what they are doing at the same time. 
• Personas: Create fictional characters that represent different user segments based on research data.
• Empathy Maps: Visually capture what users say, think, feel, and do.
• Journey Maps: Chart a user’s experience over time in a diagram, identifying pain points and opportunities for improvement. This is how we approach Journey Mapping to uncover insights and optimize user experiences.

These approaches have proven effective in gaining a broad understanding of users and their motivations. However, they can sometimes result in surface-level insights, focusing on what users explicitly express rather than revealing the deeper, underlying motivations driving their actions. This is where Jobs-to-Be-Done can add value.

The Jobs-to-Be-Done framework offers a more structured, outcome-driven approach to understanding users, which greatly enhances empathy in the Empathize phase of the Design Thinking process. Rather than simply observing what users do or how they feel, JTBD focuses on the functional progress they hope to make. Teams can move beyond broad assumptions and uncover more specific, actionable insights by focusing on the jobs that users hire products to do.

Let's explore several ways that Jobs-to-Be-Done enhances empathy in the traditional Empathize phase of the Design Thinking process:

Focusing on User Progress Over Preferences

In traditional Design Thinking, user preferences and emotional needs frequently take center stage. However, these preferences can change quickly, and users may not always know what they really need. Jobs-to-be-Done shifts the emphasis from preferences to progress—the actual goal users are attempting to achieve. This enables teams to identify the underlying motivations driving user behavior and design solutions that produce tangible results.

For example, a fitness app may believe its users prefer gamified workouts or social features. However, by using Jobs-to-Be-Done, app designers may discover that the primary reason users are hiring the app is to stay fit while balancing a busy schedule. This deeper understanding can help the team prioritize features that improve time efficiency, such as short, high-intensity workouts or flexible scheduling.

Clarifying User Needs with Actionable Job Statements

One of JTBD's most powerful features is its ability to transform vague user requirements into clear, actionable job statements. Instead of addressing broad desires or abstract pain points, Jobs-to-Be-Done encourages teams to frame user needs as specific tasks they want to complete.

For example, rather than saying, "Users want better communication with their team", Jobs-to-Be-Done would encourage the team to be more specific: "Help me to quickly inform my team about project updates". This clarity allows design teams to concentrate their efforts on solving the right problems and delivering features that truly meet users' functional requirements.

Uncovering Latent and Unarticulated Needs

One of the limitations of traditional empathy-building methods is that they rely heavily on what users express explicitly during interviews or observations. However, users are frequently unaware of their deeper needs or unable to express them clearly. Jobs-to-Be-Done helps bridge this gap by focusing on the progress users are attempting to make, revealing latent needs that would otherwise go unnoticed.

For example, a company developing a new productivity tool may discover through JTBD research that users want more than just a faster way to organize tasks; they want a system that reduces the mental burden of decision making. By addressing this unspoken need, the company can develop a solution that goes beyond surface-level efficiency and appeals to users' deeper desire for peace of mind.

Integrating Contextual Insights

Understanding the context in which users attempt to complete their tasks is an important aspect of Jobs-to-Be-Done. This approach is closely related to the ethnographic research techniques used in Design Thinking, but it incorporates a more structured lens to guide the inquiry.

Observing or enquiring the context of a job allows designers to identify limiting external factors that influence their decision-making. Understanding the specific circumstances and constraints that users face allows teams to design solutions that are more appropriate for the real-world conditions in which users operate.

For example, a company developing a meal planning app may observe that users frequently attempt to meal plan while multitasking, such as managing children or working from home. Through this observation, the design team discovers that users often face interruptions, making it difficult to focus for extended periods. From a JTBD perspective, the users’ job could be framed as: “Help me to plan meals even when I’m distracted or have limited time” This understanding may lead the team to design solutions that allow users to quickly select and customize meal plans, ensuring the app fits into their real-world context of juggling multiple tasks.

Prioritizing Jobs Based on Importance and Satisfaction

Jobs-to-Be-Done also provides a more systematic approach to prioritizing user needs. Not all jobs are equally important, and not all are adequately addressed by current solutions. Design teams can focus their efforts on the most critical jobs with the greatest potential for innovation by employing techniques such as Opportunity Scoring, which ranks jobs based on their importance to users and current level of satisfaction.

For example, a company may discover that while users are generally pleased with the functionality of a project management tool, they are dissatisfied with how long it takes to onboard new team members. This knowledge enables the company to prioritize improving the onboarding process, resulting in a solution that addresses a high-priority job while providing immediate value to users.

Jobs-to-Be-Done provides a structured way to prioritize user needs, but it works even more effectively when combined with Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI). ODI is a data-driven approach that identifies the most critical jobs users want to accomplish and evaluates how well current solutions address those needs. By integrating ODI with JTBD, design teams can not only pinpoint which jobs matter most but also uncover underserved opportunities for innovation. This combination helps optimize product design decisions, ensuring that resources are focused on solutions that truly align with user needs.

Read more about Outcome-Driven Innovation as a strategic approach to maximizing product success and explore how it can enhance your design and development process.

Integrating the Jobs-to-Be-Done framework into the Empathize phase of Design Thinking provides several significant advantages that can transform empathy in the design process, resulting in more innovative, user-centered solutions.

Deeper Understanding of User Needs

Jobs-to-Be-Done provides a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of users' functional, emotional and social needs by focusing on the tasks they seek to complete. This enables teams to create solutions that address not only surface-level issues, but also the underlying causes of user behavior.

Improved Clarity and Focus

Jobs-to-Be-Done assists design teams in avoiding the trap of feature creep by clarifying the core functions that users hire products to perform. This focus ensures that teams dedicate their time and resources to solving the right problems, resulting in more targeted and effective designs.

Better Market Differentiation

Jobs-to-Be-Done enables businesses to differentiate themselves in competitive markets by identifying unmet jobs and underserved user needs. Instead of simply adding new features, teams can develop solutions that address specific jobs better than competitors, allowing them to differentiate themselves and attract loyal customers.

Enhanced Cross-Departmental Collaboration

Jobs-to-Be-Done can improve cross-departmental collaboration by providing a clear framework for understanding user needs. When sales, marketing, and product teams all have a shared understanding of the jobs users are attempting to complete, they can better align on product strategy, messaging, and user engagement.

Continuous Innovation

Jobs-to-Be-Done fosters a culture of continuous innovation by emphasizing user progress over static product features. As users' needs change, design teams can constantly reassess the tasks they are attempting to complete and adjust their solutions accordingly.

While incorporating Jobs-to-Be-Done into the Empathize phase of the Design Thinking process has numerous benefits, it is not without challenges. Here are a few considerations for teams that want to adopt this approach:

• Shifting Mindsets: Teams used to traditional Design Thinking methods may require time to adjust to the JTBD framework. It necessitates a shift from focusing on user preferences to understanding user progress and deeper motivations.
• Operationalizing Insights: Translating JTBD findings into actionable design decisions can be difficult. Teams must strike a balance between creativity and analysis, ensuring that their solutions not only address user needs but also align with overall business goals.
• Avoiding Oversimplification: While Jobs-to-Be-Done provides clarity, teams that focus solely on functional jobs may oversimplify user needs by ignoring emotional or social factors. Blending Jobs-to-Be-Done with traditional empathy methods, such as journey mapping or shadowing can help teams maintain a more complete picture of their users.

The Jobs-to-Be-Done framework is more than just another tool; it represents a paradigm shift. True empathy in design is more than just understanding emotions; it is about discovering the real progress people want to make in their lives. Those who only scratch the surface of needs risk producing interchangeable products or services. JTBD, combined with the creativity of Design Thinking, reveals the "why" behind decisions and the actual jobs users must complete. Only then will solutions emerge that are not only nice but also relevant and valuable. If you take design seriously, you must provide more than just empathy; it is about enabling genuine progress.