Hands-On Product Management

Building Products that Delight Customers: Hands-on Product Management

Course Overview Course Code: BUS 15 Instructor Names: Bernie Maloney and Muffi Ghadiali Instructor Contact: Please contact the office for specific questions regarding this course

Course Objectives A hands-on course in Product Management and Agile Methodologies for early stage product and program managers and those looking to switch careers to Product and Program Management

Course description This highly interactive course focuses on the strategic and tactical elements of effective product management. Product management is a critical, strategic function in any company— from startups to large organizations. But it can be quite distinctly different depending on the development and stage of the product, and the company. In this course, we will cover a range of topics such as validating your product idea, developing a roadmap, making business and feature trade-offs, building the product or service, and ultimately scaling the business.

The instructors bring practical industry experience and will address questions such as:

● What role does product management play in a startup environment and how is this different in large-scale, existing businesses?

● What are the key elements and frameworks in defining and delivering products?

● How can we balance tactical tasks with strategic planning?

● What adjustments are needed in the Product Management role when products are developed iteratively (e.g. with an Agile methodology)?

● How can a Product Manager improve Product Market Fit and prioritize delivery of features?

● How can a product roadmap be built and evolved with the market?

Required Text(s): None Requirements for a Letter Grade and/or Credit: The true measure of our success is how you can apply the concepts presented into practice. For students who elect to be graded, a business plan of 6-10 pages is required. In order to get credit, attendance at all five sessions is required. No work is required for students who do not elect for a credit or grade (this is the default grading option).

Video/audio consent: This class may be videotaped for future reference. By attending this class you give your consent to be recorded and authorize release of the content. Please inform us should you have any concerns.

Session 1 Lecture theme: What is Product Management? ● Course intro

● Why a product manager should be the first person you hire

● How Agile affects the role of the Product Manager

● Finding customers, ‘marketing’ your idea (before building your product)

● Discussion

Session 2 Lecture theme: Understanding your customer and your business ● Evolving nature of market reseach

● xRDs- writing requirements that succeed

● Analyzing direct and in-direct competition

● Identifying an initial product & its business model (Business Model Canvas)

● Iterating your product & business model to find product/market fit (PMF)

● Discussion

Session 3 Lecture theme: Executing on your plan - Program Management ● Basics of Program Management

● Product development - from concept to shipment

● Defining the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

● User Stories & estimating both Value vs Effort

Session 4 Lecture theme: Beyond Phase One - Scaling Your Business ● From ‘product’ to ‘portfolio’ - iterating the Agile way

● Story mapping for release planning and feature evolution

● Technology and innovation, in relation to market needs

● Build, buy or partner?

● Preparing for Growth: Scaling the team and organization

● Discussion

Session 5 Lecture Theme: New approaches to product and business scaling ● Scaling Agile: Anticipate > (re) Act

● Role of the ‘manager’ in Agile

● Outsourcing, operations and building virtual teams

● Social Media and Crowdfunding as Marketing Tools

● Discussion

Bernie Maloney, Agile Coach, Good Technology; Principal at GreenFieldZ

Bernie Maloney is an intrapreneurial leader who has grown businesses from break even to more than $100 million in revenue. He has more than twenty years of high tech experience with such firms as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Hewlett-Packard, and TiVo. He speaks often to Bay Area groups and consults with early stage startups, focusing on the Lean Startup Movement. He believes a little structure goes a long way, and that it’s possible to liberate latent potential in just about any person, any group, and even any industry. He

Muffi Ghadiali, Head of Product Management, OUYA

Muffi Ghadiali is an experienced product management leader with more than fifteen years of experience in building software, hardware, and services. Muffi leads product development at OUYA, an innovative gaming start-up launched on Kickstarter.

Throughout his career, he has shipped a range of consumer products, including software, hardware devices, and online services for companies including OUYA Inc., Lab126 (part of Amazon.com), Hewlett-Packard, Synaptics, and others. He has lived and worked in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US. He received an MPhil in computer engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.