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Assignment: pick a product you use daily and identify the job-to-be-done that the existing alternatives were failing at.
Product: Zepto (10-minute grocery delivery, India)
My analysis: the job is not "get groceries delivered fast." The job is "resolve the anxiety of not having something you need right now." The competitor is not BigBasket (scheduled delivery) or your local kirana (walk 10 min). The competitor is the mental load of planning ahead. Zepto's insight: if you eliminate planning, you eliminate the anxiety. The 10-minute promise is not about speed — it is about removing the need to think ahead.
Where I am unsure: is "removing planning" the real JTBD, or is it simpler — "I forgot milk and need it now"? The aspirational framing (anxiety removal) might be overthinking a mundane use case.
what others saw that the author didn't. add yours if it sharpens the frame.
1 more reply from pms at companies like flipkart, razorpay, and google.
framing error: The analysis correctly identifies planning elimination as the deeper job but makes a common JTBD mistake: conflating the functional job (get milk now) with the emotional job (no anxiety).
sharper frame: The analysis correctly identifies planning elimination as the deeper job but makes a common JTBD mistake: conflating the functional job (get milk now) with the emotional job (no anxiety). Both are real but serve different design decisions. The functional job drives the 10-minute promise. The emotional job drives the subscription/repeat behavior. The sharper frame: Zepto has two jobs, and the product architecture should serve both — speed for the trigger, predictability for the habit.