Fundamentals of Managing Products

Up-skill your team with this 10 module applied professional development program.

Fundamentals of Managing Products combines training developed by product management industry pioneer Steve Johnson with applied coaching sessions that help your team apply the lessons to their products, markets, and organization.
 

Standardize your Processes and Language

The number one request we get is helping teams to standardize their process and language for product management.

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Research shows that product management is only clearly defined in 21% of organizations.

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​Fundamentals of Managing Products helps you address this by defining your product management playbook.

The Fundamentals Training Program

The Fundamentals of Managing Products provides a strong foundation for the business of product management, helps you focus your efforts, build the right products, and build them right.
 
Remove the chaos from your product management process.

Instruction is available live or on-demand. All coaching sessions are live and facilitated by a coach.

Learn more about the course:

Module/Week 1: Fundamentals

Every organization needs a consistent method for defining, creating, and delivering products. In this session, we’ll get an overview of the fundamentals of managing products. We’ll share a simple framework for defining team responsibilities for product strategy, planning, growth, and more, and use your pre-work to identify which activities are yours and which belong to others.

Module/Week 2: Process

Every organization is unique — so your planning process will be too. What are the activities and artifacts to go from idea to market? Using the Quartz Open Framework, we'll define a nimble planning process that determines which activities and artifacts are necessary in your business.

Module/Week 3: Discovery

In this module we'll learn to identify problems and outcomes that drive innovation. Together we'll examine the techniques for performing customer discovery, particularly interviews and observation, to ensure your product meets the needs of your market.

Module/Week 4: Personas

Create personas and use their stories to drive your business planning and delivery. Understand who the buyers are (and who are not), understand their journey from awareness to action, and understand the language they use when discussing their problems.

Module/Week 5: Product Vision and Scoring

Is it time for a one-page business plan? What is the right level of detail at which step of the planning process? In this module, we’ll explore a one-page product canvas with opportunity scoring and discuss how to adapt it to your business.

Module/Week 6: Roadmapping

One of the big challenges of planning is aligning releases with industry rhythms to make the biggest impact in the market. Too many teams attempt to release capabilities based on development convenience rather than market need. In this module, we’ll look at roadmapping capabilities using simple techniques that ensure corporate support.

Module/Week 7: Problem Stories

We often get so caught up in features that we lose sight of the people who use our products and what they’re trying to accomplish. What is the right level of detail for your team? Run a discovery session with your team to determine the right level of precision for product stories in your organization.

Module/Week 8: Release and Launch

Just because the development is finished doesn't mean the product is ready to launch. In this module, we'll discuss how to align the rhythms of your internal teams with the events in your industry to create impactful product releases and define responsibilities and tasks for effective product release and launch.

Module/Week 9: Retrospectives

Many teams, particularly those using agile methods, have learned to perform periodic retrospectives on their processes. We also need to master retrospectives on market and business results. This module encourages teams to examine the health of the product and define achievable goals to measure success.

Module/Week 10: Wrap-up

Congratulations! You have completed the Fundamentals of Managing Product course. Now how are you going to change your process and focus? Make time for product management. Focus on doing the right things right, and remove the chaos from your product management process.

Learn more about Steve Johnson:

Certification | Quartz Open Framework Certification

The Quartz Open Framework is an open-source product management framework that Product Growth Leaders proudly supports. The Product Professional Certification exam from the Quartz Open Framework is included with Fundamentals.

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You can learn more about the certification here.