{"id":8144,"date":"2025-04-08T23:05:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T21:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oberwasser-consulting.de\/when-the-job-is-done-but-nothing-happens\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T18:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:29:07","slug":"when-the-job-is-done-but-nothing-happens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oberwasser-consulting.de\/en\/when-the-job-is-done-but-nothing-happens\/","title":{"rendered":"When the job is done \u2013 but nothing happens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jobs-to-be-done interviews<\/strong> are a powerful tool for understanding customer needs<\/strong> and optimising the innovation process<\/strong>. But what if the expected results fail to materialise despite careful execution? In this article, we highlight common stumbling blocks and show how you can achieve real progress through effective hypothesis validation<\/strong> and qualitative market research.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

\"Using<\/figure>\n\n

Why good interviews are often ineffective – and how to make the transfer to product, marketing and strategy<\/h3>\n\n

JTBD interviews are designed to visualise customer needs – but often nothing happens afterwards. In our podcast episode 94<\/a>, we talk about the typical stumbling blocks in JTBD research transfer<\/strong> – and how to overcome them. We show you how to use jobs-to-be-done research strategically and systematically transfer results into products, communication and innovation. <\/p>\n\n

By Peter Rochel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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Those who conduct qualitative interviews want to understand.What drives people. Why they buy. Why they switch. Why they hesitate.But all too often these insights remain inconsequential. They end up in the cupboard, in the drive or in the slide deck – somewhere between gaining knowledge and stopping the project. <\/p>\n\n

Why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

This is exactly what I spoke to Jan Milz<\/strong> about.Lean Product Manager, JTBD researcher since 2013, former Product Owner at XING, now part of the team at Oberwasser Consulting.What began as a conversation about qualitative research quickly turned into an in-depth analysis of the most common failure: the lack of transfer.<\/p>\n\n

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What use are interviews if nobody uses them?<\/h2>\n\n
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\u2018We did great interviews – but nobody knew what to do afterwards.\u2019– Jan Milz<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The problem was not in the methodology. Not in the data. But in the system. <\/p>\n\n

In many companies, jobs-to-be-done research is commissioned without a clear mandate.<\/strong>Without a target definition. Without an idea of how what could be discovered is to be transferred to existing processes. <\/p>\n\n

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Explorative? Confirming? The main thing: clarified. <\/h2>\n\n

A central misunderstanding:<\/p>\n\n

Good JTBD interviews do not follow traditional guidelines.<\/strong><\/a>They are explorative, retrospective, narrative. They work with depth, not with tables. <\/p>\n\n

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\u2018I didn’t have a guideline – because I wanted to find hypotheses, not confirm them.\u2019– Jan Milz<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Those who order \u2018research\u2019 often expect comparability, controllability and measurability.What they get is causality. Complexity. Context. <\/p>\n\n

And if it doesn’t fit together, the project ends – no matter how good it was in terms of content.<\/p>\n\n

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Transfer as a blind spot<\/h2>\n\n

The real weak point is not the research. It’s what comes afterwards – or not: <\/p>\n\n

Transfer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

How does a job-to-be-done become a product idea? A marketing message? A business model hypothesis? <\/p>\n\n

Many people can’t answer that. Or they have never planned it. <\/p>\n\n

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\u2018Often a great JTBD interview comes out – and then there’s a team of 30 developers who have long since started coding.\u2019– Peter Rochel<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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The price of ambiguity: frustration<\/h2>\n\n

Jan describes it as his most common reason for frustration in research:Results were delivered – but nobody could use them.<\/p>\n\n

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\u2018Not because they were bad. But because they didn’t fit.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

No context. No customer. No purpose. <\/p>\n\n

This is not an exception, but unfortunately the rule. And not just in the start-up sector, but also among established SMEs and corporations. <\/p>\n\n

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What helps? A continuous process. <\/h2>\n\n

It takes more than interviews. It needs structure. <\/p>\n\n

Together, Jan and I have developed an open, clear JTBD process that doesn’t end with the survey – it starts there.<\/p>\n\n