TU-E5040 - Product Management D, Lecture, 4.9.2023-12.10.2023

THE TASK

Form an organised presentation of the PM tools (frameworks, processes, metrics, etc) from the perspective of key tasks of a product manager.

THE OBJECTIVE

This is the first of the two concluding assignments. The prior weeks have introduced multiple frameworks, tools and metrics. These tools and metrics have their ranges and focuses, and the specifics of the product, organization, and industry call for different approaches.

The task for the week is to take stock of the key tools and ideas presented so far, select a perspective, and form an organizing framework that charts both the key tasks of a product manager and incorporates the key tools and metrics to this framework. It will have a dual role of acting both as a backward-looking summary of the course topics and a forward-looking map for interpreting and navigating the competence development.

THE TASK IN STEPS

1. Identify topics. Collect and take stock both the key tasks of PMs (use the earlier assignment as a basis) and the tools, metrics, frameworks, processes, and such that you have come across during the course (or earlier). Focus especially on the lectures, masterclasses and the key readings, but you are welcome to include also additional materials if you wish. 
   
2. Identify and form organizing dimensions. Analyse, categorise, and summarize the topics and notes that you identified in step 1. Try and find categories and dimensions that would organize your notes into a framework. For this, you can analyse e.g., what aspects and characteristics of product, organization, industry, technology, and such seem to influence what is the role of product manager? Or what tools and metrics are common to the whole field of PM and which of them are relevant to only some flavours of it? The key is to find underlying dimensions (or drivers) that seem to give structure to the key topics that you have identified[1].
   
3. Form a framework. Based on the topics (step 1) and dimensions (step 2), form a single framework that organizes your insights and observations. This step should result into a presentation that illustrates how the topics relate to each other according to the identified dimensions.
   
4. Report the results. Use a dominantly visual format. This does not exclude text, but the text cannot define the overall visual layout and flow of the reporting. The positioning of visual elements on the report need to convey meaning about their relations (e.g., conceptually separate ideas are placed a part, distance means larger separation, connecting line or positioning within shared border denote connection between topic, and so on.)
   
5. Return as a single pdf-file. Again, use a minimal number of pages (a single page would be splendid). In all cases, the first page should present the main framework. As the focus is on visual reporting format, the second page can add only very minor detail, categorize sources, or such.