Опис курсу

Studying the discipline “Product Management” is important for several reasons, especially for those who want to develop in the field of product management and IT business, because it allows you to understand the process of creating a product, helps you better understand how to work with different teams, covers the basics of strategic planning , teaches to conduct an in-depth analysis of the market, competitors and consumer needs, develops critical thinking and decision-making skills in difficult situations, stimulates the development of an innovative approach to the creation of new products, opens a wide range of career opportunities in IT companies, startups, as well as large corporations , which develop products for different markets.

The subject of the “Product Management” discipline is the study of the main mechanisms and tools of product management in the IT sphere and other industries.

The purpose of studying the discipline “Product Management” is to form a system of knowledge and skills in product management, namely from client assessment and MVP creation to scaling, analytics and budget management.

Main tasks
The main tasks of the “Product Management” discipline:

• coverage of theoretical foundations, issues of methodology, technology and organization of scientific and research activities;
• formation of a theoretical and practical basis for effective, qualified conducting of economic scientific research by students both in the process of studying at the university and in practice;
• acquiring knowledge in the field of scientific knowledge methodology necessary for writing a qualification (master’s) thesis;
• assimilation of theoretical foundations and practical skills in product management, ability to apply basic tools of product analytics to create commercially successful IT projects.

The place of the educational discipline in the structural and logical scheme
The discipline “Product management” is interconnected with such disciplines as “Introduction to the profession”, “Object-oriented programming”, “Modeling and automation of business processes”, “Informatization project management” , “Labor market and employment policy in the IT sphere”, “Unit-economics”.

Requirements for knowledge and skills
When studying the “Product Management” discipline, students of higher education acquire the following competencies (ability):

Integral competence (IC):
IC1 – The ability to solve complex specialized tasks and practical problems in the economic sphere, which are characterized by the complexity and uncertainty of conditions, which involves the application of theories and methods of economic science.

General competences (CG):
ZK3 – Ability to abstract thinking, analysis and synthesis.
ZK4 − Ability to apply knowledge in practical situations.
ZK6 – Ability to communicate in a foreign language.
ZK7 – Skills of using information and communication technologies.
ZK8 – Ability to search, process and analyze information from various sources.
ZK10 – Ability to be critical and self-critical.
ZK11 – Ability to make informed decisions.
ZK12 – Interpersonal skills.
Special (professional) competences (SK):
SK7 – Ability to apply computer technologies and data processing software to solve economic problems, analyze information and prepare analytical reports.
SK8 − Ability to analyze and solve tasks in the field of economic and social-labor relations.
SK10 – Ability to use modern sources of economic, social, management, accounting information for drafting official documents and analytical reports.
SK12 – Ability to independently identify problems of an economic nature when analyzing specific situations, to propose ways to solve them.
SK13 – Ability to conduct an economic analysis of the functioning and development of economic entities, assessment of their competitiveness.
SK14 − Ability to analyze problems and phenomena in one or more professional fields in depth, taking into account economic risks and possible socio-economic consequences.
SK16 – Understanding of the fundamental theoretical principles of the behavior of individuals and business entities in cyberspace, as well as the ability to identify modern socio-economic challenges, assess the potential and limits of digitization of the economy, justify measures and develop project solutions to improve the effectiveness of business structures in the conditions of digital transformations and ensuring information and digital security.
SK18 – Ability to analyze business processes and carry out digital business transformation.

Program learning outcomes:
PR06 – Use professional argumentation to convey information, ideas, problems and methods of solving them to specialists and non-specialists in the field of economic activity.
PR10 – Conduct an analysis of the functioning and development of business entities, determine functional areas, calculate the relevant indicators characterizing the effectiveness of their activities.
PR14 – Identify and plan opportunities for personal professional development.
PR15 − Demonstrate basic skills of creative and critical thinking in research and professional communication.
PR17 – Perform an interdisciplinary analysis of socio-economic phenomena and problems in one or more professional areas, taking into account risks and possible socio-economic consequences.
PR19 – Use information and communication technologies to solve social and economic problems, prepare and present analytical reports.
PR21 − To be able to think abstractly, apply analysis and synthesis to identify key characteristics of economic systems of different levels, as well as the peculiarities of the behavior of their subjects.
PR22 – Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in new situations, in working with new objects, and in uncertain conditions.
PR23 − To show the skills of independent work, to demonstrate critical, creative, self-critical thinking.
PR25 – Understand the structure, basic principles of activity and business processes of economic entities of various types of economic activity, including IT industry, as well as demonstrate the skills of identifying economic problems and planning their activities, taking into account factors influencing the external and internal environment.
PR26 − To justify the choice and apply information and analytical tools, economic and mathematical methods, complex analysis techniques, monitoring and modeling methods to identify the determining trends and regularities of the organization, functioning and development of economic systems at the micro and macro level, generalization of the regularity of business development and clarification of the specifics of this process in the conditions of digital transformation. Present the results of the research based on which recommendations and measures for adaptation to changes in the digital development of society are being developed.

The study of the academic discipline “Product Management” involves the achievement of such a qualification level of master’s training, for which he must:

a) to know

• types of marketing research, how and why to conduct them;
• responsibilities and tasks of the product manager;
• peculiarities of the product manager’s work in IT and other industries;
• life cycles of product development;
• how to create products from scratch to the first MVPs;
• stages of product strategy development;
• product development requirements;
• basic tools of product analysis;
• main metrics of product performance;
• how the product team is formed;

b) to be able to

• create commercially successful IT projects;
• conduct qualitative and quantitative research (interviews, testing, user feedback);
• use a data-driven approach to build the project;
• create and test the MVP of the product;
• use marketing tools for product development;
• correctly analyze the market, competitors and form a marketing strategy;
• work with different segments of the target audience, create portraits of the target audience and choose the right benchmarks;
• develop a financial model of the product;
• use design thinking practices, Lean and the Canvas business model;
• understand key metrics and what influences them.