Coming into this class, I thought that product management involved a great number of monitoring metrics and planning. While I found this to be true, I learned that product management is more than just about the “hard skills”. It’s also about learning as much as possible about the needs of users and finding ways to be an effective communicator. I also learned that considering ethics is a core part of being a great product manager, or in fact, any role.
During the class, I greatly enjoyed hearing from various professionals and learning about their experience in product management and adjacent careers. It was always a joy to learn about their backstories and realize how many different people from various backgrounds could be a fit for the role. I also benefitted from hearing about the approaches to testing ideas and implementing feedback.
I learned a great amount in this class. Some specific examples include learning about creating product roadmaps, conducting user interviews, story mapping, creating prototypes, business models for growth, metrics, OKRS, goal setting, and strategy. I feel more confident in what a product manager’s role is and enjoyed gaining hands-on learning experience through the project.
If we had more time, I would have enjoyed going through with creating the app and the business my group worked on. It also would have been a great learning experience to go through multiple iterations of developing different features and implementing changes from user feedback to help refine and improve the project. I would have also enjoyed diving into more detail about the different tools and frameworks that product managers use.
Overall, I had a great experience in this class, and I will continue to reflect on my learnings as I begin my career.
