Product Management

Course details

Skills & Tools

Guide a product through its lifecycle via lean methodologies like Agile, market research, UX, and financial modeling.

Production Standard

Create a roadmap, business model canvas, MVP, key metrics, personas, wireframing, and a stakeholder management plan.

The Big Picture

Grow capable of launching viable, market‐ready products that anticipate user needs by making tough decisions and working with stakeholders.

Curriculum

Unit 1: Product Management Fundamentals

Introduction to Product Management

• Define the multiple roles & responsibilities of a Product Manager
• Understand how customer needs translate into features of a product
• Identify the underlying risks and assumptions associated with new features

The Product Development Process

• Understand each phase of a product life cycle, and the development stages needed to develop them
• Identify the different methods of developing a product

Unit 2: Getting to Product/Market Fit

Customer Development

• Identify a company's target customers
• Conduct effective customer interviews and site visits
• Understand the user's needs and current ways of working

Testing & Validating/Minimum Viable Product

• Determine if an idea has product/market fit
• Explain the purpose and process of building an MVP
• Evolve an MVP to reach product/market fit

Business Model Design

• Describe the components of a business model canvas and how they relate to each other
• Differentiate between types of business models
• Develop a business model around a new product idea

Market Research

• Develop a competitive analysis of a feature or business
• Identify key differentiation between competitive offerings
• Utilize estimation and research in order to determine the opportunity size of a given product or feature

Unit 3: UX Design

Personas & Empathy Maps

• Synthesize findings from customer interviews into user personas
• Use empathy maps to better understand the feelings and needs of customers
• Distinguish how teams inside a company use personas and empathy maps differently

Features & User Stories

• Translate customer needs into product features
• Comprehend how to create user stories in order to communicate user's needs with other stakeholders
• Learn how to effectively prioritize features

Wireframing & Storyboarding

• Understand how to create wireframes in order to test ideas and identify potential problems before time is committed to developing the final product
• Become familiar with different methods of wireframing, including sketch, lo-fi, and hi-fi
• Understand how to create storyboards in order to communicate context, user flows, and interactions

Mid-Course Presentation

• Present progress of projects and receive instructor and peer feedback

Unit 4: Business Fundamentals

Metrics

• Use the best metrics and KPIs to track a variety of subjects
• Identify tools to measure metrics
• Understand the concept of the customer conversion funnel

Pricing & Financial Modeling

• Build a working financial model for a given audience
• Describe different pricing approaches for a new product
• Forecast demand and revenue for a new product

Unit 5: Communicating with Stakeholders

Flexible Session

• Focus on a topic selected by the instructor in order to provide deeper insight into a specific area of Product Management

Technology for Product Managers

• Define what a tech stack is in the context of web applications, and identify associated technologies
• Articulate the business and technical implications of adding, removing or postponing product features
• Identify best practices for developing digital products with your technology team

Product Roadmap

• Identify and define three distinct phases along a product's timeline: pre-launch, pre-market fit, and post-market fit
• Build a product roadmap

Project Management & Product Specs

• Describe the Agile framework, and why it is important to development processes
• Understand how developers estimate task size
• Use different tools to track tasks and time

Presenting Your Product

• Describe what makes a presentation effective, and how structure is used to impact the audience experience
• Employ practical techniques, processes, and communication styles to pitch your idea to stakeholders more effectively

Unit 6: Presentations & Next Steps

Final Presentations

• Gain feedback from peers, instructor, and guest panelists that will identify strengths and areas for improvement

Moving Forward on Your PM Path

• Understand the realities of the Product Management job market
• Understand job options across organizational types and career paths
• Access resources and tools for continued learning