Department of Industrial Engineering and Management

Part 2: Product Organisation

The second part of the course moves the focus from key dimensions of product to the people that are responsible for bring the decisions regarding users, development and business in balance.

The tasks, roles, and required skills depend on the size of the organisation and the development stage of the company. Startups aim for product-market-fit, scaleups focus on establishing a product management function that can facilitate the expansion of the business and product portfolio, and large companies balance with exploration of new opportunities and exploitation of existing ones.

We first address the role of individual PM and expand to PM organisations. After that we focus on how to set direction for development and measure the progress.

The role of product manager

Product management and company lifecycle

Startup Product Management by Osma Ahvenlampi

Scale-up Product Management by Heta Ruikka

Product Management at Scale by Tommi Ylinen

Strategy and its role in product management

Strategy in product management by Noora Ahmed-Moshe

Readings on strategy

Key readings on the matter of the week:

Perri (Build trap): Ch. 10-14
Cagan (Inspired): Ch 22-27, (also 1-9)
Rumelt, R. 2011 "The perils of bad strategy" on McKinsey Quarterly
(Also, Cagan's Empowered addresses these aspect in parts 4 & 6)

This is the one book you do need to read on strategy: Richard Rumelt. 2011 "Good strategy, bad strategy". Profile Books Limited

However, opinion differ, and this is another "one book to read" on strategy: A.G. Lafley, Roger L. Martin, 2013 "Playing to win: How strategy really works". Harvard Business Review Press