Product Management Course: Foundations

Product development. Learn the skills important to the product lifecycle.

COVID-19 update: arrangement of our courses

We are now delivering courses online and in-person. Please check the delivery format of each class before enrolling.

Please note that course materials (excluding prescribed texts) are shared electronically within 48 hours of course commencement. Printing is not available.

The world is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. In response to this, organisations are adopting product-led practices which have fuelled some of the world's top organisations. Some of the world’s top technology-based organisations are led by CEOs who were once product managers, including Satya Nadella from Microsoft, Sundar Pichai from Google, and Stewart Butterfield from Slack. It’s therefore no surprise that the product management role is one of the fastest growing roles on LinkedIn.

This course will focus on the foundations of product management providing a balance of theory and hands on activity to help you understand the mindset, frameworks, and tools to help you understand the practice of product management and to apply these skills to either get started in product management or apply in your day-to-day work.

By the end of the course, you will have an end-to-end view of the product lifecycle and a set of frameworks and tools available to use in your practice of product management.

Aims

The aim of this course is to help you either transition from your current role into a product management role, or to improve your product management skills. The curriculum is designed to be applicable to all products, whether they be tangible or intangible, and equally useful whether you are working in a start-up or mature organisation.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• discuss the operating context and role of product management:
  • recognise the importance of context and stage of your product in the product lifecycle in choosing the best approach to the practice of product management
  • be aware of the various roles associated with the practice of product management
  • identify what distinguishes successful from failed products
• progress your idea from a hunch to launching a solution with confidence:
  • adopt a learning mindset to help define your product strategy and the steps to execute on your product strategy
  • identify the different ways of defining a product strategy based on your operating context
  • identify the core problem underlying your product and achieving problem/solution fit
  • describe customer research methods and approaches to understanding your customer’s job-to-be done, and whether your idea is desirable
  • determine whether your product idea is viable
  • define your solution while minimising cost, effort and risk
  • identify what it takes to develop a successful Minimum Viable Product and Go-to-market strategy
  • identify ways to analyse key metrics and assess the performance of your product
• list the core capabilities required to be a successful product manager:
  • be aware of the various ways of working to enable a learning mindset and to create the greatest value with least effort
  • identify some of the core technology underlying most products
  • recognise some of the key steps you might take in creating a compelling product management resume and preparing for your product management interview.

Content

Operating context and role of product management

• Dynamic environment we live in
• Changes in customer behaviour
• Changes in technology
• Competitive advantage is now around learning
• JTBD theory
• Lean start-up theory - projects vs. agile delivery
• Adopting a learning mindset
• Characteristics of high performing product teams
• Foundational product management frameworks and tools
• Types of product management roles
• Key capabilities for effective product management
• Why products fail
• Overview of the product lifecycle
• Product management stack

Progressing your idea from a hunch to launching a solution with confidence

• Different ways of defining product strategy
• Defining your product strategy using a product canvas - step-by-step
• Learn how to use the desirability, viability and feasibility model
• How to achieve problem/solution fit
• Validate whether the problem you are focusing on is urgent, pervasive and customers are willing to pay for it.
• Learn how to choose different customer research methods
• Understand the value of the jobs-to-be-done method in understanding what matters most to your customers
• Conduct competitor analysis to understand the existing alternatives available for customers
• Define the customer persona you aim to focus on
• Adopt a validated learning process: formulate hypothesis, construct an experiment, test, analyse results, decide to pivot or persevere
• Build a prototype, and decide on the best ways to conduct experiments
• Conduct a solution design sprint
• Build and test your MVP
• Track progress using innovation accounting
• Take your product to market and measure performance ongoing

Core capabilities to be a successful product manager

• Agile product management
• Adopt a dual track agile approach
• Use a story map to build and test your MVP
• Agile ceremonies and team make-up
• Core technology for technology-based products
• Core capabilities of effective product managers and how to improve on these
• Tips for creating an effective product management resume and succeeding in a product management interview

Intended audience

This course is designed for those interested in a role in product management, and those who are already involved in a role in the product management space.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery style

Workshop

Delivery modes

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop
• Online workshop via the platform Zoom

Materials

Course materials are provided electronically.

Recommended reading

Cagan, M. 2020, Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products, John Wiley & Sons.

Maurya, A. 2012, Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works, O'Reilly Media, Inc, USA.

Sandy, K. 2019, The Influential Product Manager, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Oakland, CA.