Research
Contextual Inquiry (JTBD Style)
Also known as: Contextual Inquiry
Observing users in their actual work environment while they perform real tasks, not in a lab or interview setting.
Contextual inquiry in JTBD means watching users do their actual job in their actual environment, not asking them to describe it in a conference room. The goal is to see the workaround, the spreadsheet they maintain, the Slack channel they rely on, the document they copy-paste from. These artifacts reveal the gap between what the product does and what the user needs. The method is simple: show up, observe, ask 'why' when something seems inefficient, and capture the artifacts.