Product Management Studio
The Product Management Studio
About the Program
Through the lens of customer centricity, Product Management Studio helps you craft, tell, and sell your product's story. Our premier online program led by Faculty Director, and Earl F. Cheit Faculty Fellow at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, Dr. Sara Beckman, Product Management Studio moves you through a dynamic, immersive experience designed to ensure that the knowledge gained gets put to work in your career and your organization. The program culminates with you earning the Berkeley Product Management Studio Certificate as a testament to your newly developed and honed skills.
Program Dates
Program Topics
The Product Management Studio program curriculum covers the following topics:
- Your role as a product manager
- Customer transformations
- Using the Product Management Canvas
- Framing & reframing
- Introduction to innovation capabilities
- Using the Value Proposition Canvas
- Storytelling for Innovation
- Creating a storyboard
- Market research and customer-focused product design
- Segmentation: identifying new segments and jobs to be done
- Targeting: the segments will you serve
- Positioning: how will you distinguish yourself from the competition
- Understanding your customer
- Customer journey mapping
- Data-based decision making
- Value creation and innovation ecosystems
- Customer relationships and channels
- Testing hypothesis: knowing what you don’t know
- Different kinds of risks
- Breakthrough results with pricing
- How customers perceive value
- Value clarification, framing, and metrics
- Engaging your product team
- Understanding the product life cycle
- Product strategy by phase: growth, maturity, and decline
- Execution success factors
- Navigating your organization’s culture
- Influence: putting strategies into practice
- Evaluating options and roadmapping
- Having a great story
- Telling a great story
- Your two-minute product pitch
Download the program topics
Who It's For
Experienced professionals focused on product design, product development, launching, marketing, selling, and managing products across all industries.
Cost & Features
- 8 weeks, 40 hours total (fully online asynchronous program)
- World-renowned UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and Berkeley Executive Education Faculty
- Weekly dynamic videos and exercises to apply tools and skills
- Individual coaching from expert product managers
- Small-group and peer coaching sessions
- Weekly live online video Faculty sessions
- Exclusive network-building opportunities
- Access to the program alumni community
- Product Management Studio Certificate of Completion
A UC Berkeley Certificate of Business Excellence gives individuals the opportunity to create a personal plan of study structured by our four academic pillars. Participants will earn a mark of distinction with certification from a world-class university, and enjoy the flexibility of completing the program in up to three years.
Interested in customizing this program for your organization?
Faculty
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Insights & News
First, you should know: Yes, it’s a really cool job. Do you like tech? Business? Working on a team? Check, check, check? Go for it. You won’t be...
Our five-day Product Management Program will help you create products that customers will love. We have taken the most applicable material from the Haas MBA, boiled it down to the essentials, and applied it to the role of Product Manager...
Dr. Sara Beckman discusses design thinking, merging design and product development, creating transformative customer experiences and more in this InFocus Podcast
Frequently Asked Questions
We believe in an experiential approach to online education. That means that this program is more than just a set of videos that you watch on your own schedule. We define a set of assignments and exercises that each program participant is expected to complete during each of the 8 weeks of the program, typically released on Fridays. At the end of the following week on Thursday evenings 6-7:30pm (US Pacific time), there is an online live session (video conference with the whole class) where faculty members of the program will lead a mix of lecture, discussion, and activities that are meant to encapsulate that week’s topic.
This program is designed for experienced professionals focused on product design, product development, launching, marketing, selling, and managing products across all industries. Anyone with product management responsibilities or working with product teams will gain a substantial amount of knowledge and understanding of what it takes to make a product successful.
No, you don’t have to be a Product Manager to attend. However, the program does assume that you are currently working on a product, as many of the exercises center around the direct application of concepts and frameworks. If you do not have a product you can work on, or are unable to disclose details about your product, you will need to pick another product before enrolling in the program.
All participants go through the same content every week, so you will need to keep up with the rest of the cohort. However, during the week, you can choose to review the content and work on the assignments at your own pace. This program is intentionally very flexible to accommodate those working full-time or unable to take off time from work to attend an in-person program.
The total workload is approximately 5 hours per week during the 8 weeks program. This estimate includes the time needed to watch videos, contribute to discussions, and complete weekly assignments.
Just as you might expect from a live session in a business school course, the Product Management Studio live sessions are a mix of live lectures, Faculty-led discussions, and group activities. The only difference is that the program is hosted via a group online video conferencing service where you can join from the convenience of your home.
The live online video sessions happen at the same time each week (Thursday evenings 6-7: 30 pm, US Pacific time). Participants must attend 6 out of the 8 live sessions to receive a certificate of completion.
Because most of the interactions are either through an online platform or directly with your coach, we can accommodate participants from any timezone. However, there is a single set time for the live session. For those living in a timezone outside of the United States that makes it too difficult to attend live sessions (e.g., early mornings, late nights), we will be providing recordings of these sessions. The recordings are posted within 24-hours of the live session time.
Yes - Knowing that online programs can sometimes feel isolating, we take extra care to create as many touch points and interactions as possible. Between individual coaching sessions, weekly live sessions, and discussions on the learning platform, there are numerous opportunities for participants to interact with faculty, coaches, and fellow participants.
Nothing can replace face time, but not everyone can make it to the UC Berkeley campus. That’s why we offer an online version, which covers 90% of the same content but with a substantially more flexible time commitment. Instead of being in a classroom for five consecutive days, we have designed the online program to accommodate those who cannot take time off from work to attend an in-person program. This eight-week online program provides an opportunity for participants to build longer-term relationships with their team and coaches over a sustained period.
Coaches are professional Product Managers with deep industry experience as well as robust knowledge of the program’s content and curriculum. We recruit experienced leaders and managers from top industry firms and vet them through a rigorous process to ensure that they are the best possible resources for program participants.
How often will I get to meet with my coach? How will they help me?
Each participant will get two (2) 30-minute coaching sessions with their assigned coach. Coaches will also work with their entire team throughout the eight weeks of the program. If you are interested in becoming a coach, please contact us directly at jennbui@berkeley.edu.
To receive a certificate of completion, participants must fulfill the following criteria:
- Completion of 100% of all online lessons
- Submission of 100% of all assignments
- Participation of 100% of all online discussions
- Attend 75% of any "live" sessions (6/8 sessions)
Absolutely! We encourage teams to go through programs like this together, so they can quickly apply their learnings. If you are interested in learning more about group enrollment, including potential opportunities for group discounts, please contact us directly at jennbui@berkeley.edu.
The standard refund policy for all programs at Berkeley Executive Education applies to this online program. Cancellations for a full refund can be made within 5 business days of initial registration. To cancel from a program and receive a full refund, the registrant must submit a written request to billing@berkeley.edu within 5 business days of registration. No refund can be offered after a program has started.
Transfers can not be offered beyond 2 weeks after the program start date of PM Studio. All transfers to a different iteration date of the same program will require a submission of a written request to billing@berkeley.edu. Every accommodation will be made to ensure enrollment in the next upcoming iteration. If the requested program is sold out, the registrant will be placed on the waitlist.
Yes, we encourage participants to keep in touch with each other. To facilitate connections, all participants will have an opportunity to join various online groups upon completion of the program.
Yes, the Product Management Studio program counts for 4 COBE days under either the “Strategy & Management” or “Entrepreneurship & Innovation” pillar.
This program is entirely online to enable the highest degree of access and flexibility for our participants. That said, many participants will elect to meet their team or coaches in-person if they live nearby and have the availability.
Have More Questions?
Visit our FAQ Page or Contact Us.