OBUS 3375 - Product Design & Management: The Essentials

This course introduces the foundations of product management and product design, combining theory with hands-on application. We’ll explore the evolution of the discipline and the emerging role of the Chief Product Engineer—the person who holds the product together across silos, balancing customer needs, product constraints, and economic realities.

You’ll gain essential tools to build products that truly resonate with clients and support sustainable business growth. During the course, you’ll learn to clarify customer preferences, assess market conditions, define performance targets, resolve client and product trade-offs, apply emotion-centric design, and craft a compelling product concept and narrative that others can rally around. In the course follow-up workshops (optional), you’ll be able to go deeper with concrete tools including pricing strategies and target costing to build profitable products, legacy vs. heritage to anticipate market shifts, competitor teardown to understand the trade-offs others resolve better, as well as obeya and kanban to foster collaborative, learning-driven environments.

• Courses: 6 sessions of 2 hours, every other week. Alternating theory and group-based practical exercises.
• Follow-up workshops (optional): 2 to 3-hour sessions for deep dives into advanced topics on your own projects.

One group grade ( /20) and one individual grade (pass/fail).

6 sessions of 2 hours each. Exercises will be completed in groups in class.

You’re welcome to deepen your understanding of the concepts between sessions if you wish, and I’m available to answer questions.