Product Management has emerged over the past several decades as a central general management discipline, extending well beyond its roots in CPG and technology firms to become a critical capability across retail, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, and other digitally transforming industries. While traditional functional roles such as marketing, operations, and finance address discrete aspects of business decision-making, Product Management integrates these perspectives to define, build, and evolve technological products and platforms under conditions of uncertainty and change.
This course examines Product Management as a modern general management function, focusing on how product leaders translate customer and business insight into coherent product strategy, execution, and organizational alignment for technology-based products. We will trace the historical evolution of Product Management, examine alternative organizational designs, and develop a rigorous understanding of the product manager’s craft, competencies, growth journeys, tools, and strategies to overcome challenges. The focus of this course is specifically on digital product management and the modern Product manager tech stack, providing a practical integration of product, design, data, engineering, leading cross-functional teams and going to market.
The course emphasizes both analytical and managerial decision-making, including:
- Identifying and framing customer and business problems appropriate for product-led solutions.
- Designing product vision, strategy, and roadmaps under resource and organizational constraints.
- Prioritizing initiatives using data, experimentation, and financial reasoning.
- Managing product development, measurement, and iteration across the product lifecycle, including the emerging use of AI-enabled tools.
- Leading without authority through influence, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration.
The course uses a combination of case discussions, frameworks, applied exercises, and a team project in which students plan a product from concept through launch and evaluation. Students will leave the course with practical tools and a structured perspective for leading product-driven organizations and initiatives in both established firms and entrepreneurial settings.
