job-story-mapper

# Job Story Mapper Skill

Stop writing features. Start understanding jobs. This skill translates product requirements and user interviews into precise job stories that keep the team focused on outcomes — not outputs.

## Jobs-to-be-Done Fundamentals

A "job" is the progress a customer is trying to make in a given situation. People don't buy products — they hire them to get a job done.

Three dimensions of every job:
- **Functional job:** The practical task ("get from A to B")
- **Emotional job:** How they want to feel ("feel confident I made the right choice")
- **Social job:** How they want to be perceived ("look like a competent professional to my team")

Great products address all three. Most roadmaps only address the functional one.

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## Job Story Format

**Template:**
> When [situation/trigger], I want to [motivation/goal], so I can [expected outcome].

**Not a user story:**
User stories focus on roles and features: "As a [role] I want [feature] so that [benefit]."
Job stories focus on situations and motivations: "When [I'm in this specific situation] I want [this capability] so I can [achieve this outcome]."

**The situation is the most important part.** "When I'm in the middle of a sprint and my PM asks for an update" is a much richer trigger than "As a developer."

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## Mapping Process

### Step 1: Identify the main job
One sentence: What is the core job your product is hired for?
> "Help [user type] [accomplish outcome] when [context]."

### Step 2: Break into job steps
What are all the sub-tasks within the main job?
(Use a job map: Define → Locate → Prepare → Confirm → Execute → Monitor → Modify → Conclude)

### Step 3: Identify pain points per step
Where does the job fall down today? Where do customers use workarounds?

### Step 4: Write job stories for each pain point
One job story per distinct situation-motivation pair.

### Step 5: Map to product opportunities
Which job stories are underserved? Which have existing solutions? Where is your differentiation?

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## Output Format

### Job Story Map — [Product/Feature Area] — [Date]

**Core Job Statement:**
> When [context], [user type] wants to [main job outcome], so they can [ultimate goal].

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**Job Map:**

| Step | Sub-Job | Current Solution | Pain Points | Underserved? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Define | [What user does] | [Tool/method used] | [Frustration] | H/M/L |
| Locate | | | | |
| Prepare | | | | |
| Confirm | | | | |
| Execute | | | | |
| Monitor | | | | |
| Modify | | | | |
| Conclude | | | | |

---

**Job Stories (prioritised by underservice):**

**Job Story 1 — [Situation label]**
> When [specific situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome].

Functional dimension: [What they need to get done]
Emotional dimension: [How they want to feel]
Social dimension: [How they want to be perceived]

Current workaround: [What they do today]
Pain intensity: [High / Medium / Low]
Frequency: [How often this situation occurs]
Product opportunity: [What we could build to address this]

---

Repeat for each major job story.

**Opportunity Scoring:**
Rate each job story on:
- Importance to customer (1–10)
- Satisfaction with current solution (1–10)
- Opportunity score = Importance + max(Importance – Satisfaction, 0)
- Prioritise: Opportunity score > 10

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## Quality Checks

- [ ] Job stories use the "When / I want to / So I can" format (not user story format)
- [ ] Situation is specific (not "as a user" — a real moment or trigger)
- [ ] All three dimensions covered: functional, emotional, social
- [ ] Opportunity score calculated for each job story
- [ ] Current workaround identified for each high-opportunity story
- [ ] Product opportunity is distinct from "build the feature" (it's an outcome)

## Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:
- **Product or feature area** to map (e.g. onboarding, checkout, dashboard)
- **User type or persona** (who are we mapping jobs for?)
- **Source material** (user interview notes, support tickets, discovery findings, or describe from memory)
- **Scope** (full product job map vs. a single feature area)

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not write job stories that describe a feature rather than a situation-motivation pair
- [ ] Do not skip the social and emotional dimensions — mapping only functional jobs misses the most defensible differentiation opportunities
- [ ] Do not define situations too broadly ("as a user who wants to manage their work") — the situation must be a specific moment or trigger
- [ ] Do not conflate opportunity scoring with priority — a high opportunity score still requires feasibility and strategic fit assessment
- [ ] Do not produce a job map without identifying current workarounds — the workaround reveals what the job is worth to the customer

## Guidelines

- Never write a job story for a feature — write it for the situation that makes the feature valuable
- If you can't identify the situation, you don't understand the job yet — go back to user research
- Social and emotional jobs are harder to surface but often the most defensible differentiators
- Recommend sharing job stories with engineering — they make better technical decisions when they understand the "why"