“What features would you like?” is an easy question to ask and a difficult answer to use.
People can describe attractive possibilities without knowing what would make them change behaviour. A Jobs to Be Done switching interview takes a different route: it reconstructs a real decision from the first doubt through adoption and confirmation.
The goal is not to extract a perfect quote. It is to explain why change happened in those circumstances.
Recruit by behaviour
Useful participants include people who recently:
- switched from an old solution;
- adopted a solution for the first time;
- seriously evaluated but abandoned a choice;
- cancelled or returned;
- stayed with a workaround despite active interest.
Recruiting only satisfied current customers hides anxiety, failed adoption and non-consumption.
The choice event should be specific. “Started using a client portal” is more useful than “uses collaboration software.”
Start before active search
Many interviews begin with product comparison. The decision often began much earlier.
Ask:
- When did you first think the old approach might no longer be enough?
- What happened that day?
- What did you do next?
- Did you look at anything then?
- Why did you not change immediately?
This period reveals the push of the current situation and the habit that kept the old approach acceptable.
Find the trigger
A trigger turns passive dissatisfaction into active choice:
- a costly mistake;
- a deadline;
- a new client requirement;
- a leadership change;
- a life event;
- a system failure;
- a recommendation at the right moment.
Do not assume the trigger is the job. It is the event that made progress urgent.
Reconstruct active comparison
Ask about alternatives broadly:
- Which products did you consider?
- Which manual workarounds?
- Did you delay, delegate or do nothing?
- Who influenced the decision?
- What evidence did you trust?
- What nearly won?
Category competitors are only part of the choice. Email, spreadsheets, a colleague, a service provider or continued inaction may compete for the same progress.
Map the four forces
After the interview, code evidence into four forces:
| Force | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Push of current situation | Why could the person no longer continue comfortably? |
| Pull of new solution | What better state became attractive? |
| Anxiety of new solution | What made the change risky? |
| Habit of present | What made the old way easy to retain? |
Product teams often invest only in pull: more features, benefits and demonstrations. Adoption may depend more on reducing anxiety or switching cost.
Ask about first use
The decision does not end at purchase.
Ask:
- What happened in the first hour or day?
- When did you know the choice was working?
- What caused doubt or regret?
- What did you keep from the old method?
- What made you continue?
This stage reveals whether the offer delivers the expected progress and which onboarding conditions matter.
Mini-case: the client portal
A consultant says the portal was purchased “to look more professional.”
The timeline reveals:
- an outdated proposal was sent to a client;
- two products were bookmarked but no change followed;
- an enterprise client required secure sharing;
- a colleague demonstrated version history and approvals;
- migration effort and client logins created anxiety;
- assisted migration and guest access determined the final choice.
A working job hypothesis is:
When client work involves several versions and decision makers, I want one trusted place for current material and approval so I can stay in control and avoid credibility-damaging mistakes.
“Professionalism” is not wrong. The timeline gives it an actionable mechanism.
Interview prompts that keep the story concrete
Use:
- What happened next?
- Where were you?
- Who else was involved?
- What did you compare?
- What made that option feel safer?
- Why then and not a month earlier?
- What almost stopped you?
- What did you expect would be different afterwards?
Avoid:
- Would you buy…?
- Do you like…?
- How important is innovation?
- Would AI make this better?
The second group invites speculation or agreement with the interviewer.
From interviews to a job hypothesis
Do not create one job per interview. Compare timelines and look for recurring:
- circumstances;
- desired progress;
- trade-offs;
- anxieties;
- evidence of success.
Preserve outliers. They may reveal a distinct job rather than noise.
Then test the hypothesis through behaviour: offer acceptance, migration completion, activation, repeated use and retention.
Practical next step
Recruit one recent switcher and one serious abandoner. Build both timelines on the same structure. Compare:
- trigger;
- push;
- pull;
- anxiety;
- habit;
- evidence that confirmed or rejected the choice.
Use the contrast to write a job hypothesis and one adoption experiment.
References
- Clayton Christensen Institute. “Jobs to Be Done Theory.” Official theory overview (opens in a new tab).
- Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. Competing Against Luck. HarperBusiness, 2016.
Continue with the tool
Use the Jobs to Be Done guide to plan interviews, map switching forces and validate a job hypothesis.