Jobs To Be Done
A framework focused on understanding why customers hire your product. Rather than demographics, JTBD explores the progress customers want to make in their lives.
When To Use
Best applied during product discovery and positioning phases. Especially valuable when entering new markets or trying to understand why customers choose alternatives.
How It Works
- Identify the job customers are trying to accomplish
- Understand the circumstances that trigger the need
- Map out current solutions and their limitations
- Design features that help customers complete the job better
Real Example
When Intercom analyzed why people used their chat widget, they discovered customers weren't hiring it to "add chat" but to "reduce support burden while maintaining quality." This insight led to proactive messaging features.
Best For: Product teams exploring new opportunities or struggling to differentiate from competitors. Works well combined with customer interviews.
Product-Market Fit Canvas
A visual tool that helps teams align on target customers, their problems, value propositions, and key features. Ensures everyone understands what success looks like.
When To Use
Essential for early-stage products or when pivoting. Use it to align stakeholders before investing heavily in development. Revisit quarterly as you learn more about your market.
How It Works
- Define your target customer segment precisely
- List their underserved needs and pain points
- Articulate your unique value proposition
- Identify must-have features vs nice-to-haves
- Specify metrics that indicate PMF achievement
Real Example
Superhuman used PMF surveys to discover their target wasn't "email users" but "executives who process 100+ emails daily." This focus allowed them to build features specifically for power users rather than everyone.
Best For: Teams launching new products or features. Creates alignment between product, marketing, and sales on who you're building for.
RICE Prioritization
A scoring model for comparing initiatives based on four factors: Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. Helps teams make objective prioritization decisions.
When To Use
Perfect when you have multiple competing ideas and need data-driven prioritization. Works best with established products that have usage metrics to estimate reach and impact.
How It Works
- Reach: How many users will this affect per time period?
- Impact: How much will it improve their experience? (3=massive, 2=high, 1=medium, 0.5=low)
- Confidence: How sure are you? (100%=high, 80%=medium, 50%=low)
- Effort: Total person-months required
- Score: (Reach × Impact × Confidence) / Effort
Real Example
A SaaS team compared "Advanced reporting" (1000 reach, 2 impact, 80% confidence, 3 months) scoring 533 versus "Mobile app" (5000 reach, 1 impact, 50% confidence, 6 months) scoring 417. They chose reporting despite mobile's higher reach.
Best For: Product teams overwhelmed with feature requests. Brings objectivity to roadmap discussions and helps justify decisions to stakeholders.
OKR (Objectives & Key Results)
A goal-setting framework that connects ambitious objectives with measurable key results. Aligns teams around outcomes rather than outputs.
When To Use
Implement when teams need clearer direction or alignment. Most effective with quarterly cycles. Requires discipline to focus on outcomes over feature delivery.
How It Works
- Set 3-5 ambitious objectives (qualitative, inspiring)
- Define 2-5 key results per objective (quantitative, measurable)
- Ensure alignment between company, team, and individual OKRs
- Review progress weekly, adjust quarterly
- Target 70% achievement rate (100% means not ambitious enough)
Real Example
Objective: "Become the most loved project management tool for remote teams." Key Results: NPS increases from 42 to 60, retention rate improves from 85% to 92%, feature adoption reaches 70% of active users.
Best For: Organizations wanting to shift from feature factories to outcome-driven teams. Requires buy-in from leadership and consistent practice.
North Star Metric
A single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers. Serves as the guiding light for product decisions and company growth.
When To Use
Critical when teams pull in different directions or optimize for vanity metrics. Particularly valuable for growth-stage companies needing focus across multiple teams.
How It Works
- Identify the moment customers experience your core value
- Choose a metric that measures this value delivery
- Ensure it predicts long-term success and revenue
- Break it into input metrics teams can influence
- Review regularly but resist changing frequently
Real Example
Airbnb's North Star is "nights booked" because it captures value for both guests and hosts. Spotify uses "time spent listening" as it directly correlates with subscription retention and indicates they're delivering musical discovery.
Best For: Product teams needing a unifying metric. Works best when paired with supporting metrics to prevent gaming the system.
