Workshop Review: An Introduction to Product Management

Recently, I’ve been looking at job postings for product managers, but admittedly, I didn't really know much about these jobs. So, to remedy my ignorance, I decided to register for Bitmaker’s free Introduction to Product Management workshop which took place on Friday, September 22 at 6:30 p.m. Here's what I discovered.

At the Start

The workshop was held in a bright, studio-like room in the Entertainment District. Participants could choose where to sit and a Bitmaker rep came around to check off names on their list. I got there a bit early because the schedule for the evening was supposed to start with a 10-minute sign-in and networking period. However, they had us sitting down right away, so it didn’t encourage people to walk around and socialize. 

The Heart of the Evening

Our workshop leader was Daryna who is the product manager for Vidya, a software company out of Waterloo. She did a one-hour presentation in which she discussed her responsibilities, the kind of skills needed to be a good product manager, the people she works with on a daily basis, and her role in the product cycle. She also gave us a real-life scenario and asked us to think as product managers to work through the problem. This last activity took about thirty minutes.

I found her presentation to be interesting because of how relevant it was to the study of interactive media management. In many respects the job sounds similar to project management (PM). (When I asked Daryna about it, she told me that in small companies that can’t afford to hire a PM, they often have the product manager step in.) There’s a strong UX focus because the product manager is an advocate for the customer. I also had a chance, after the workshop, to talk briefly with Daryna which was helpful, but being a Friday night, everyone was eager to leave.

Final Thoughts

This workshop is great for anyone who’s interested in learning more about product management. I came out with a better understanding of how product management fits into the process. I also appreciated the fact that Bitmaker sends out a link after the workshop that allows you to download the PowerPoint presentation used. The workshop is also great for anyone interested in working as a project manager or any other role that acts as an intermediary between different teams and the user.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend this course to someone who has zero or little understanding of the industry. Even though, it’s an open course with no prerequisites, I found that a lot of the concepts and terminology used weren’t explained. It was assumed that we knew. I would also caution people with expectations that this would be a good networking opportunity. The atmosphere didn't cultivate much interaction among attendees. Even at the end of the session, there was very little time to talk to people, even the instructor, who was busy packing up as I was asking her questions. Yes, I was that annoying person.

As an aside, another thing that I noted was the gender split in the group. Out of the twenty or so participants, there were only about five women. I thought that was interesting...