Not so long ago, the job of product manager was about assessing market data, creating requirements, and managing the hand-off to sales/marketing. Maybe you’d talk to a customer somewhere in there and they’d tell you what features they wanted. But companies that manage product that way are dying.
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals
Offered By
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals
University of Virginia
About this Course
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Learner Career Outcomes
34%
started a new career after completing these courses
34%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
What you will learn
How to create the actionable focus to successfully manage your product
How to focus your work using modern product management methods
How to manage new products and explore new product ideas
How to manage and amplify existing products
Skills you will gain
Product/Market FitProduct ManagementDesign ThinkingInnovation PipelineLean Startup
Learner Career Outcomes
34%
started a new career after completing these courses
34%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Beginner Level
Some familiarity with software development and product management is helpful, but not required.
Approx. 19 hours to complete
Suggested: 4 weeks of study, 3-4 hours/week
English
Subtitles: English, Chinese (Traditional)
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
3 hours to complete
Achieving Focus and #Winning
As a product manager, you and your team will always have more ideas and more requests than you can possibly manage. Making matters still more complicated, part of your job is to develop and then ‘sell’ a particular view of what should happen with your product to diverse stakeholders (engineering, marketing, etc.). How do you do it? Success requires an actionable, testable focus. The successful product manager identifies vivid, testable customer outcomes and creates focus around them. This week we’ll show you how to interface effectively with all your stakeholders to create that actionable focus.
3 hours to complete
19 videos (Total 95 min), 1 reading, 3 quizzes
19 videos
You, the Product Manager5m
Why Is a Product Never a Product?6m
You and Your Customer4m
You and Your Design Team4m
You and Your Development Team4m
Product Manager vs. Product Owner8m
Greg Cohen on PM vs. PO?8m
What Is Data Science?3m
You and Your Data Science Team6m
Meet Enable Quiz, Our Startup Company Example3m
You and Your Consulting and/or Support Team5m
Focal Tool: The Customer Journey4m
Nastia Root on Creating a Strong Interface with Support4m
You and Your Sales and Marketing Team7m
You and Your Finance/Accounting and Legal Teams4m
You and Your Project Manager3m
You and Your Management Team4m
Week 1 Takeaways1m
1 reading
Course Overview & Requirements10m
3 practice exercises
Practice Quiz on the #Winning PM9m
Practice Quiz on Many Areas, One Focus21m
Week 1 Final Quiz30m
3 hours to complete
Using Today's Product Management Methods
You’ve probably heard that the days of ‘build it and they will come’ are over. But what exactly should you be doing instead? There’s no shortage of material out there on how to be innovative--but you only have so much time. This week we’ll step through the method’s today’s most successful product managers are using and give you tips to “sell” those methods to your stakeholders. We’ll also show you how to analyze growth, engagement and monetization using qualitative and quantitative methods. You’ll finish the week with an understanding of which methods to apply when and hear from practitioners who are using these methods to make breakthrough products.
3 hours to complete
20 videos (Total 113 min)
20 videos
What Kind of PM Are You?3m
Methods and PMs8m
Agile and Product Management7m
Design Thinking and the Product Manager6m
Lean Startup and the Product Manager9m
Managing Habits: Trigger and Action5m
Managing Habits: Variable Reward and Investment5m
Nir Eyal on Managing Habits6m
User Story Mapping for Product Managers7m
Prototyping for Product Managers5m
Usability Testing for Product Managers4m
Collaborating with Enterprise Customers--Tips 1-48m
Collaborating with Enterprise Customers--Tips 5-93m
David Bland on Avoiding the Product Death Cycle2m
Shaping Your Funnel Part 14m
Shaping Your Funnel Part 26m
Managing a Product with Hardware5m
Making Time to Do Things Right3m
Week 2 Takeaways4m
4 practice exercises
Practice Quiz on Solving the Right Problem12m
Practice Quiz on Creating the Right Solution6m
Practice Quiz on Applications in Product Management12m
Week 2 Final Quiz30m
2 hours to complete
Exploring a New Product Idea
Something on the order of 9 out of 10 new products fail. Those sound like daunting odds, but through disciplined exploration an effective PM knows how to make even the improbable probable. This week we’ll show you how to apply your understanding of modern PM methods to exploring new product ideas.
2 hours to complete
13 videos (Total 73 min)
13 videos
Learning vs. Scaling7m
The Importance of Good Enough: "Cooped Up" MVPs8m
The Importance of Good Enough: "Greener Air" MVPs7m
Non-Titular Product Managers53s
David Chait on Non-Titular PMs5m
Horizons of Growth5m
Corporate Innovation Pipeline5m
Creating a Healthy Innovation Pipeline6m
David Bland on New Ventures Inside the Corporation8m
Business Model Design I: Proposition Design5m
Business Model Design II: Customer Journeys6m
Week 3 Takeaways2m
4 practice exercises
Practice Quiz on Learning vs. Scaling18m
Practice Quiz on Innovating in the Corporation6m
Practice Quiz: From Proposition to Business Model6m
Week 3 Final Quiz: Exploring a New Product Idea30m
3 hours to complete
Amplifying an Existing Product
If you want a product that does more than make a big splash, you’ll need to apply what you’ve learned here every week, every sprint to keep that product fresh and relevant. It’s not hard to let a great product get sidetracked and become irrelevant to its users--this happens all the time. Some figures show the portion of features on successful products that are regularly used to be well under 50%. Yikes! In this week, we’ll look at how successful product managers keep their products fresh and focused on valuable outcomes for their users. You’ll learn how to put a focused, sustainable, program in place to keep your product competitive.
3 hours to complete
19 videos (Total 105 min)
19 videos
Identifying Business Model Types5m
Business Model Design III: Delivery and Execution6m
Tamara Carleton on Strategic Foresight6m
The Trouble with New Features3m
The Importance of Good Enough: Seedling Features5m
Actionable Analytics5m
Eric Qi Dong on Disciplined Analytics for the Product Manager7m
Kiran Kadambi on Structuring Problems in Product Management13m
Applying Data Science5m
Andrew Kritzer on Data Science for the MBA6m
Jim Rose on Continuous Integration and Delivery7m
Jim Rose on Monolithic Architectures and Microservices4m
Managing a Channel or Modality1m
Nastia Root on Being a Growth PM5m
It's Not a Meeting l5m
It's Not a Meeting II7m
Roadmap?6m
Course and week close: Let's Not Make This Good-Bye34s
3 practice exercises
Practice Quiz: Focused Tuning and Testing15m
Practice Quiz: Driving Growth through Focus15m
Week 4 Final Quiz30m
Reviews
4.7
TOP REVIEWS FROM DIGITAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT: MODERN FUNDAMENTALS
by LKJun 24, 2018
I enjoyed this course very much! This course helped me ground myself in some of the core principles of product management and I'm confident that I will take what I've learned and put it into practice.
by NKDec 23, 2018
This course covers all the necessary and much required fundamentals about the product management. The course structure is very well balanced and covers all the aspects of product management. Thanks
by JHJun 25, 2019
Great overview of product management in a digital world. It was very accessible to a beginner like myself. There are a ton of great tools and process that are easily transferable to the real world.
by JWMay 22, 2019
I'm totally a Newbie about Digital Product Management. I learn a lot of New Things. I hope this Certificate will advance my career. Thank you Professor Alex Cowan for teaching me a lot of things.
by SSJan 19, 2020
I work as a product manager and this course was very very useful to me.\n\nIt is concise, to-the-point and practical and also gives clues about the potential useful areas to further your studies.
by ALJun 12, 2019
Weeks 2-4 were great; week 1 was more tedious (I found). The class does provide useful tools throughout the weeks and also equips the learner with appropriate terminology tp use with management.
by SKNov 2, 2019
PM tools referred are easy to grasp, which can be related to your current projects. Alex pace was perfect and he covered all aspects of product management with plenty of examples and interviews
by MRMar 9, 2020
I was looking into getting into PM, I think it s a great overview of the role with practical tools to keep in mind. Loved the course, will make more confident in my next role and interviews.
by AAJul 10, 2019
Great theoretical knowledge that provides an overview to necessary methodology and processes. Would have enjoyed more practical exercises with other classmates as someone new to this field.
by CVMar 22, 2020
Alex Cowan is a great host and facilitator of this product management course. I learned a lot that I can now apply to the products I manage and the new products that I will take to market!
by MAJul 17, 2019
Great start for software product management roles. Gave a clear idea since ideation to launching of products. As PMs, it gives us a planned roadmap of how to approach product management.
by SRMay 19, 2019
I have been a product professional for more than 5 yearns now. Even at my experience level, I could gain a lot of insights and practical frameworks which I could use at my everyday work.
by SPJul 29, 2017
Some of the questions during the test are too long. Please keep it little shorter. The content and especially the leanings from interviews with top PMs is the biggest takeaways for me..
by SRMar 23, 2020
Really good perspective on modern product management with info on useful tools are techniques that are proven effective in successfully ideating,developing and delivering new products
by SBNov 9, 2019
Excellent course, helped me know and revive the basis product management concepts. would prefer to enhance my product management knowledge using relevant courses in future as well.
by OSMar 18, 2020
A really nice course! I would love to have a summary of the key points in a PDF version from each topic with charts and templates that later can be used for a professional project!
by AGFeb 22, 2019
The video material was good for the most part, but I felt there was a lack of legitimate testing. I didn't even view the videos from the week 4 and passed the quiz on my first try.
by DKMay 9, 2019
Excellent course - great as a refresher of basic skills/knowledge and also as a intro/overview of current trends/areas with respect to data science and business models. Thank you!
by MJDec 9, 2017
This is my first course on coursera, and I love how coursera works.\n\nI also really enjoyed the subject matter of my course and the lecturer. I've learned so much!!\n\nThank you!
by EADec 16, 2017
Course is very practical, interesting and informational.\n\nI just miss some knowledge about tools. This needs to access more courses and search for practices.\n\nThanks indeed.
About University of Virginia
A premier institution of higher education, The University of Virginia offers outstanding academics, world-class faculty, and an inspiring, supportive environment. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University is guided by his vision of discovery, innovation, and development of the full potential of students from all walks of life. Through these courses, global learners have an opportunity to study with renowned scholars and thought leaders.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
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