Bachelor 2020/2021

Product Management Digital Products

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course (Management)

Area of studies: Management

Delivered by: Department of Marketing (Nizhny Novgorod)

Where: Faculty of Management (Nizhny Novgorod)

When: 4 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Denis A. Fomenkov

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 52

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Product management is one of the most complicated processes in organizations because it encompasses almost all functions such as: finance, marketing, R&D, manufacturing, sales etc. At the same time strategies of companies in real corporate world more and more often rely on innovations, new products, new technologies which are directly dependent on proficiency in product management. The course is for students who strive to improve their knowledge and skills in main domains of digital product management. Its structure follows body of knowledge developed by Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). Students are highly encouraged to continue their education for successful professional certification of PDMA. Throughout the course students work in project teams on assignments which reflect main stages and approaches to product development and management. Instructor acquaints students with frameworks, concepts, and models used within each phase. Afterwards students consciously choose concepts and tools, which seem relevant for particular stage. Students will learn all contemporary frameworks, approaches, and tools currently applied by generalist and business-oriented product managers. Course will not address more specific technical issues, which are usually dealt by engineering-oriented product managers. Students will go through all main activities performed by real product managers.

Learning Objectives

• To learn all contemporary frameworks, approaches, and tools currently applied by generalist and business-oriented product managers.
• To master basic skills which are necessary for successful development and management of digital products.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Know main responsibilities of product managers
• Can use different techniques to generate ideas for new products
• Know how to evaluate and screen ideas
• Can use MVP to test main assumptions about value
• Can develop value proposition canvas
• Can integrate voice-of-customer into product management
• Know how to adjust marketing research techniques for different types of products
• Can apply Scrum, Lean startup, Kanban in product management
• Can work with data science team to refine product

Course Contents

• Product manager as a position in a company: responsibilities and qualifications.
  Functions of product manager. Product manager archetypes. Project managers and program managers. Archetypes of product managers: technologist, generalist, business-oriented. Product managers in different companies. Transitioning to product manager from different fields. Right experience for product manager. How to prepare resume.
• Ideation and hypothesis development for products
  Idea capture and handling system. Voice-of-Customer Methods: Ethnographic research, customer visit teams, customer focus groups, lead user (innovative user) analysis, the customer or user designs, customer brainstorming and inverse brainstorming, customer advisory board or panel, community of enthusiasts. Strategic methods for generating ideas: disruptions in market, core competencies assessment, peripheral vision, competitive analysis. Open innovation methods: partners and vendors, accessing the external technical community, scanning small businesses and business start-ups, external product designs, external submission of ideas, external idea contest. Technology development and fundamental research. Patent mapping. New knowledge as a source of innovation. Tapping the ideas of customers. Learning from lead users. Empathetic design. Invention factories and skunkworks. Open market innovation. The role of mental preparation. How management can encourage idea generation. Idea-generating techniques. Brainstorming. Nominal Group Technique. TRIZ. Catchball.
• Market analytics and voice-of-customer for product manager
  Information customers cannot provide. Information customers can provide. Techniques for deeply understanding customer needs. Qualitative methods for deeper understanding: ethnography, netnography, site visits and individual interviews, lead users, customer toolkits, real-time market validation. The market analytics process. Types of customer data. Market analytics tool: segmentation, data mining, perceptual mapping, needs ranking, concept testing, conjoint analysis. Web-based market analytics.
• Agile approaches to product development
  About scrum. Core concepts in scrum. Requirements and user stories. Estimation and velocity. Technical debt. Roles in scrum: product owner, scrum master, development team, scrum team structures, managers. Lean and kanban approaches to new product development understanding lean and kanban.
• Data science fundamentals for product managers
  Data availability. Machine learning basics for product managers. Working with data science teams.

Assessment Elements

• Contributions to class discussions
  At the end of the each class instructor makes notes about how active were students in discussions and how insightful and professional were their answers or comments. Fruitful participation is barely possible without supplementary reading which must be published by instructor one week before each class session. Class attendance alone will not earn a student class participation/contribution credits.
• Assignments
  All topics are accompanied by assignments. Some assignments combined shape one big project about developing and launching new digital product. Other assignments are focused on particular topic and not related to main project. Assignments are evaluated by instructor and peers.
• Exam
  Exam is conducted in a form of answering predefined questions and cases. Instructor randomly picks up 3 questions or cases from the list. Students are expected to answer almost immediately so instructor can observe their way of thinking. Even if they need to use particular tool or calculate figures, students do it in front of instructor.
• Contributions to class discussions
  At the end of the each class instructor makes notes about how active were students in discussions and how insightful and professional were their answers or comments. Fruitful participation is barely possible without supplementary reading which must be published by instructor one week before each class session. Class attendance alone will not earn a student class participation/contribution credits.
• Assignments
  All topics are accompanied by assignments. Some assignments combined shape one big project about developing and launching new digital product. Other assignments are focused on particular topic and not related to main project. Assignments are evaluated by instructor and peers.
• Exam
  Exam is conducted in a form of answering predefined questions and cases. Instructor randomly picks up 3 questions or cases from the list. Students are expected to answer almost immediately so instructor can observe their way of thinking. Even if they need to use particular tool or calculate figures, students do it in front of instructor.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.4 * Assignments + 0.3 * Contributions to class discussions + 0.3 * Exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Bruce T. Barkley, Project Management in New Product Development, McGraw-Hill © 2008 https://library.books24x7.com/toc.aspx?bookid=23646

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Sixth Edition, 2017. Режим доступа: http://library.books24x7.com/bookshelf.asp
• Cadogan, John, et al. Cross-cultural and cross-national consumer research, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hselibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=2070198.
• Fundamentals of Qualitative Research
• Moran, A. (2015). Managing Agile : Strategy, Implementation, Organisation and People. Cham: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=969008
• Vanderplas, J.T. (2016). Python data science handbook: Essential tools for working with data. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc. https://proxylibrary.hse.ru:2119/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1425081.