# Thinking Jobs To Be Done

Deciding what to build or why adoption fails.

- Repository: https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills (1690 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-08-07
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-jobs-to-be-done -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-jobs-to-be-done -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-jobs-to-be-done -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-jobs-to-be-done -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills`

## Description

Deciding what to build or why adoption fails. Recover the progress users hire a solution for under a circumstance, then rank by outcome and competing workarounds.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Jobs to Be Done

Core rule: users hire solutions for progress in a situation. Prioritize the job, forces, outcome, and competing workaround, not the feature list.

## When to Use

- Choosing what to build, cut, or prioritize when user need is unclear
- Explaining low adoption of a shipped feature
- Mapping competition beyond same-category products (email, spreadsheets, manual work, non-consumption)
- Positioning or research when the progress sought is contested

Requires at least one evidence source: PRD/spec, tickets, support/sales notes, analytics/logs, or current product behavior. If none exist, name the research gap; do not invent quotes.

## When NOT to Use

- Pure execution once the job is known (bug fix, schema, CI, performance), implement, do not rediscover the job
- Retro-justifying a decision already locked, framework theater
- Infrastructure/internal work with no end-user progress decision
- When the open question is only *how* to implement a settled job

## Procedure

The rest: https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/thinking-jobs-to-be-done/SKILL.md