1. Introduction
In the last article, we explored the basics of Job Mapping: how to capture a customer’s job step by step, free of solutions, so you can see the work the way they experience it. We looked at the eight universal steps, a quick workflow, and some tips to keep your maps practical and grounded. That’s the foundation.
But if you’ve been following my work on the Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid™, you know that not all jobs are the same. Some jobs are directly tied to a product — things customers do to acquire, prepare, use, maintain, and eventually dispose of it. Other jobs are bigger than any single product — the underlying, solution-independent goals that customers are trying to accomplish in their lives or work.
Both of these belong at the bottom of the Pyramid:
Level 1: Product Jobs — the logistical, task-based jobs across a product’s lifecycle.
Level 2: Core Jobs — the fundamental goals customers are trying to achieve, regardless of what product they use.
And here’s the key: you can build job maps for both. Mapping Product Jobs helps you see the end-to-end customer journey around your solution. Mapping Core Jobs helps you see the deeper, solution-free work customers are really trying to get done. Put them together, and you have a full picture of where opportunities for innovation, marketing, and sales actually sit.
In this article, we’ll dive into how to create job maps at these two levels of the Pyramid. We’ll start with Level 1, walking through the product lifecycle from acquisition to disposal. Then we’ll move into Level 2, breaking down process jobs, control jobs, efficiency jobs, and problem-solving jobs — each with guidance, tips, and examples.
By the end, you’ll see how Job Mapping inside the Pyramid brings an extra layer of clarity and power to your discovery work.
2. Mapping Level 1: Product Jobs
When most teams think about a customer “journey,” they’re usually thinking about Product Jobs — the logistical, task-based work that surrounds the use of a product. These are the steps people take to get a product into their hands, set it up, use it, keep it running, and eventually retire it.
At Level 1 of the JTBD Pyramid™, Product Jobs break into five categories:
Acquisition – finding, evaluating, and obtaining the product.
Preparation – unboxing, assembling, installing, or configuring it.
Usage – operating it to perform its intended function.
Maintenance – cleaning, updating, repairing, or replacing parts.
Disposal – retiring, recycling, reselling, or passing it on.
If you mentally walk through these categories as if you were the customer, you’ll cover the full lifecycle of the product.
An Example: The Smartphone Journey
Let’s make this concrete. Imagine we’re mapping the job of using a new smartphone.
Acquisition: Decide on the brand and model, compare carriers, complete the purchase.
Preparation: Unbox it, insert the SIM card, charge it, transfer contacts and data, set up accounts.
Usage: Make calls, send texts, browse, use apps — the “core” experience.
Maintenance: Install updates, replace a cracked screen, recharge the battery daily, buy a new case when the old one wears out.
Disposal: Trade it in, resell it, recycle it, or hand it down to a family member.
Notice how broad the scope becomes when you walk across all five categories. If you only focused on Usage, you’d miss the pain of data transfer in Preparation, the frustration of constant charging in Maintenance, or the uncertainty of trade-in value in Disposal.
Tips for Mapping Product Jobs
Start at Acquisition. Ask: What kicks off the journey? How do customers decide what to buy?
Don’t skip Maintenance and Disposal. Teams often forget these stages, but they’re often where dissatisfaction (and churn) shows up.
Ask customers to narrate the whole cycle. “Walk me through what it’s like when you first buy this… and what happens years later when you’re done with it.”
Look for transitions between categories. These handoffs often reveal big frictions — like moving from Preparation into first-time Usage, or from Usage into long-term Maintenance.
A Product Job Map doesn’t just show how people interact with your product — it shows where your product fits into their broader work. And when you can see that, opportunities for innovation become much clearer.
3. Mapping Level 2: Core Jobs
If Level 1 Product Jobs are about the logistics of interacting with a solution, Level 2 Core Jobs are about the fundamental goals people are trying to achieve, independent of any product. These are the deeper flows of work that exist whether or not your product is in the picture.
When we map Core Jobs, we can usually group them into four types: Process Jobs, Control Jobs, Efficiency Jobs, and Problem-Solving Jobs. Each has its own logic and structure.
3.1 Process Jobs
A Process Job is a job with a clear beginning and end, where something changes state through a sequence of steps. It’s about transformation — moving from “not done” to “done.”
Examples: Wash clothes, Plan a vacation, Cook a meal, File taxes.
Tips:
Start with the trigger: What kicks this job off?
Anchor on the state change: What’s different when the job is complete?
Keep the sequence clear: customers often tell stories out of order.
Summarize back: “So first you ___, then you ___ — is that right?”
Mini-example: “Cook a meal.”
Define goal (what to make),
Locate ingredients,
Prepare kitchen,
Execute cooking,
Monitor taste and timing,
Modify seasoning or heat,
Conclude with plating and cleanup.
3.2 Control Jobs
A Control Job is about maintaining stability — keeping a system within desired limits. Instead of a straight line with a start and end, a Control Job runs in a loop: monitor signals → compare to targets → adjust → re-check.
Examples: Maintain blood pressure, Balance pH in a water system, Keep a room at the right temperature.
Tips:
Look for signals: what are customers watching? (e.g., a gauge, a dashboard).
Ask “compared to what?” to uncover targets or thresholds.
Probe for corrective action: What do you do if it’s off target?
Close the loop: What tells you the system is stable again?
Mini-example: “Maintain correct tire pressure.”
Monitor the gauge,
Compare to recommended PSI,
Adjust with air pump,
Re-check pressure,
Continue the cycle as needed.
3.3 Efficiency Jobs
An Efficiency Job is about improving the ratio of outputs to inputs. Customers are trying either to do more with the same effort or achieve the same result with less effort.
Examples: Maximize factory productivity, Lower cost per marketing lead, Extend battery life.
Tips:
Look for “meta-steps” layered on top of a process (batching, sequencing, automating).
Ask about shortcuts: What do you skip, combine, or do in parallel to save time?
Separate consistent shortcuts (true steps) from one-off hacks (variations).
Anchor with ratios: Was that about doing more, or doing it with less?
Mini-example: “Improve energy efficiency in a building.”
Pre-program heating/cooling schedules,
Seal drafts to reduce waste,
Automate lighting,
Monitor usage data to refine further.
3.4 Problem-Solving Jobs
A Problem-Solving Job begins when something goes wrong. Unlike a Process Job (linear) or a Control Job (cyclical), a Problem-Solving Job is triggered by disruption and often includes loops of trial and error.
Examples: Fix a flat tire, Debug software, Treat a patient’s illness, Restore lost power.
Tips:
Start with detection: How did you know something was wrong?
Unpack diagnosis: customers compress this — probe carefully.
Expect loops: What did you try first? If that didn’t work, then what?
Don’t end at “we fixed it” — confirm: How do you know it’s really resolved?
Mini-example: “Resolve a login failure.”
Detect error message,
Diagnose by checking credentials or reset link,
Try a fix (password reset),
Verify access is restored,
Monitor for recurrence.
Why This Matters
When you map Core Jobs, you start to see the structure beneath the chaos of customer stories. Process Jobs show you transformations, Control Jobs show you cycles, Efficiency Jobs show you optimizations, and Problem-Solving Jobs show you disruptions. Together, they cover most of the functional work people are trying to get done in their lives.
And once you’ve mapped them, you can look across Product Jobs (Level 1) and Core Jobs (Level 2) to see how the two interact. A product feature might ease a maintenance task (Level 1) or smooth a monitoring loop (Level 2). Seeing both levels side by side gives you a much clearer picture of where opportunities lie.
4. Practical Uses of Pyramid Job Maps
Once you’ve built job maps for Product Jobs (Level 1) and Core Jobs (Level 2), the question becomes: what do you do with them? These maps aren’t just artifacts to hang on a wall. They’re tools to drive decisions across your business. Here are four ways teams can put them to work right away:
1. Innovation: Spotting Underserved Steps
Innovation often gets framed as “let’s add features.” But a job map changes the conversation: instead of features, you’re asking, “Which steps in the job are hardest for customers today?” Maybe the pain shows up in Maintenance (Level 1) or in Diagnosis (Level 2 Problem-Solving). Once you know where the friction lives, you can focus your creativity on those steps instead of guessing.
Example: In laundry care, detergent pods solved pain in the Preparation step (measuring messy liquid detergent). That innovation wasn’t about adding bells and whistles — it was about smoothing a single underserved step.
2. Marketing: Crafting Messages Around Friction
Customers don’t buy products for their feature lists; they buy them to get jobs done more smoothly. A job map helps marketing zero in on moments of tension. Which step makes people anxious, slow, or frustrated? Frame your product as the relief.
Example: Apple’s marketing around the iPhone’s “Portrait Mode” didn’t talk about algorithms or lenses. It targeted the Monitor step of photography — “Did my picture turn out well?” The message: your photos will always look professional.
3. Sales: Reframing Conversations Around Jobs
A job map gives sales a neutral, customer-centric script. Instead of diving into product features, you can walk through the customer’s job and ask, “Where do you run into trouble here?” When the customer says, “Honestly, the setup stage is always painful,” you’ve just opened the door to position your solution in a way that feels relevant and empathetic.
Example: A medical device salesperson can map the surgery preparation steps with a surgeon, then highlight how their device simplifies instrument setup — rather than leading with technical specs.
4. Research: Structuring Interviews and Discovery
Finally, job maps act as scaffolding for discovery work. In interviews, you can use the map as a guide: walk customers through each step, probe for frictions, and ask, “What’s hardest here? What do you wish were different?” Instead of shallow feature wish-lists, you’ll uncover unmet needs grounded in actual workflow.
Why This Matters
The power of the JTBD Pyramid™ isn’t just in defining jobs at different levels — it’s in making them actionable. By mapping Product and Core Jobs, you create a shared blueprint that teams across functions can use to align. Innovation becomes more focused, marketing more resonant, sales more consultative, and research more structured.
5. Don’t Stop Now! Let’s Learn!
Job Mapping is one of the most practical ways to bring clarity to your customer discovery work. At Level 1, mapping Product Jobs helps you see the entire lifecycle of how customers interact with your solution — from acquisition to disposal. At Level 2, mapping Core Jobs reveals the deeper flows of work that exist with or without your product — processes, control loops, efficiency moves, and problem-solving patterns.
Together, these maps give you a structured view of the customer’s world. They make interviews sharper, uncover hidden frictions, and create a common language for innovation, marketing, and sales.
If this feels like a lot, don’t worry — it’s supposed to. Job Mapping isn’t about filling boxes perfectly on the first try. It’s about building a living document that evolves as you listen to customers and learn. Each version gets you closer to the truth of how the job really works.
And if you’d like to go deeper, this is exactly the kind of work we practice in my course, Customer Discovery with The Jobs-to-be-Done Pyramid™. It’s designed to give you hands-on experience with job maps, customer interviews, and the Pyramid framework — so you can confidently uncover and act on real customer needs. Click here to set up a call, and learn more about this course for your team.
Because at the end of the day, the teams who understand their customers’ jobs most clearly are the ones who win.