Course

Software product management

Software product managers experience conflicting interests and high pressure to deliver short-cycle. Managing these interests requires broad knowledge and expertise. Without these skills, software product managers miss out on market opportunities and the market value of their products deteriorates.

For this reason Software Product Management has become an established discipline in many industries in the last ten years after the big players of the software industry – such as Microsoft, IBM and SAP – had practiced professional Software Product Management for a long time.

The role of Software Product Manager is of strategic value to the economic success of a software product. Successful software product management leads to delivery of the right products for the right market, at the right time, at the right price. A software product manager is responsible for managing software with the goal of achieving sustainable success throughout the life cycle of a software product. This generally refers to economic success, which is ultimately reflected in the profits generated. During this course you will learn what is needed to become a successful Software Product Manager.

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What will you learn?

The Software Product Management course in short

In 3 working days you will grow into a software product manager with other professionals. During this time you will share experiences, learn from each other and advance together. At the end of the course you can take an exam that leads to the internationally recognized ISPMA certificate. This training is provided by teacher Hans-Bernd Kittlaus.

Meet Prof. Hans-Bernd Kittlaus

Hans-Bernd is instructor for the Software Product Management and Software Tailorability courses. Hans-Bernd has worked as a trainer, coach and consultant for corporate IT organizations as well as companies in the IT industry. In addition, he has trained hundreds of product managers worldwide in more than 100 SPM courses, including all six ISPMA-based training modules. A frequent presenter at conferences, Hans-Bernd has published numerous books and articles, his latest being "Software Product Management: The ISPMA-Compliant Study Guide and Handbook, 2nd Edition" (Springer 2022).

A frequent presenter at conferences, Hans-Bernd has published numerous books and articles, his latest being "Software Product Management: The ISPMA-Compliant Study Guide and Handbook" (with Samuel Fricker, Springer 2017). Diplom-Informatiker (equivalent to M.S. in Computer Science) and certified as an ISPMA Certified Software Product Manager, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) and PRINCE2 Practitioner.

Do you want to read more about Hans-Bernd? Read his interview here!

Course program

Day 1

01

Introduction

Lots of responsibility, little authority. How do you position yourself as a software product manager and how does your role fit into ISPMA’s SPM Framework? High-level overview of the SPM Framework.”

High-level overview of the SPM Model.

02

Product Strategy (part 1)

Software product managers are responsible for the strategy of the software product (or platform) creating, supporting and updating it over time.

Define how your product is supposed to evolve over the strategic timeframe.

Course program

Day 2

03

Product Strategy (part 2)

04

Product Planning

Software product managers are responsible the strategy for the software product (or platform) and for supporting as well as updating it over time.

How your product evolves in a strategic time frame.

Product planning is the combination of processes used to convert the product strategy and external insights into an actionable plan. This forms the basis for the product team.

Convert product strategy into an executable plan.

Cursus program

Day 3

05

Strategic Managament

06

Orchestration of Functional Areas

Get to know the activities associated with Strategic Management. This will help you better understand the role of a product manager in relation to these activities.

The company’s strategic management and the product manager’s involvement.

The division of labor in a company, that develops software products, usually implies that there are separate functional areas with their own responsibilities, tasks, objectives and culture.

As orchestrator make sure that all members of the product tema across functional areas contribute to the success of the product in the best possible way.

07

Wrap Up

08

Exam (optional)

What steps will you take after this course? What challenges will you encounter and what strategies do you apply?

Translate Knowledge To Action.

Convert your acquired knowledge into a certificate.

Go home with a proof of knowledge in hand.

Practical information

Time investment

The course lasts three consecutive week days, on location with an optional exam afterwards.

Cost

The costs of the course are € 2,495 excl. VAT. This includes lunch on location.

Optionally, you can choose to take an exam. The costs for the exam are € 295,- excl. VAT..

Location

The course is given in the Utrecht (The Netherlands).

Language

The course is in English. It is important that you can understand and speak English. The exam is a multiple choice exam in English.

Exam

The ISPMA Certified Software Product Manager exam is separate from the course. It is possible to follow the course with or without an exam. This is a Multiple Choice exam. The exam costs are not included in the course costs. Exam costs are € 295,- excl. VAT.