Jobs to Be Done

Abstract

Most enterprises are already spending heavily on AI, yet much of that investment never reaches the outcomes the business is measured on. The technology itself is not necessarily the reason; knowing where to apply it, and why, is. This paper argues that Jobs to Be Done is the right place to begin an AI-ready enterprise strategy. It is a human-centered framework, drawn from product strategy, for understanding user needs and designing the products and services that meet them.¹,²

A job is the outcome a person is trying to achieve, independent of any tool or technology. In our methodology, we turn that framework inward, identifying the internal jobs the enterprise must perform across the customer lifecycle, and the connected workflows that support the customer experience end to end. Defined with rigor and mapped across the enterprise, jobs become a shared picture of what the business must do, who does it, and the value each job delivers to the customer and the business. That picture is what aligns investment with the outcomes the business owns, converts a portfolio of disconnected and siloed digital and AI investment into a coherent plan, and lays the groundwork for a digital-first, agentic enterprise.

This paper is a deep dive into Jobs to Be Done, a core element of our Intelligent Experience Architecture™, the end-to-end methodology that connects business strategy, customer experience, and technology architecture so digital and AI investment produces sustained competitive advantage. What follows is how we apply Jobs to Be Done, what it produces, and where the value lands: faster decision velocity and cross-functional alignment, initiatives tied to outcomes, and a clear line from strategic priorities to digital and AI investment to the P&L.

About the Author

Mario Ruiz is the Head of Strategy and Client Innovation at Turnberry Solutions, where he leads strategic transformation initiatives connecting business strategy, technology architecture, and human-centered experience design for enterprise clients. With 25+ years guiding C-suite executives and Fortune 500 organizations through digital transformation, he brings deep expertise in aligning technology with measurable business outcomes and client value across financial services, energy, transportation, manufacturing, and professional services. Previously, as a founding member of Salesforce Ignite, he helped establish Salesforce's strategic advisory practice, delivering enterprise-wide transformation engagements for some of Salesforce's largest customers in the US and Canada, then globalizing operating models across Japan, APAC, and LATAM. He later led Salesforce's internal innovation function, directing a 20+ person team within the CIO organization. His foundation in human-centered design was built at tech companies like HP, Intuit, Telefónica, and Salesforce. He serves as Adjunct Faculty at California College of the Arts and has guest lectured at UC Berkeley's Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and the undergraduate Product Design program at Stanford University. He holds a BS in Product Design from Stanford University and a Master of Design Methods from IIT Institute of Design.