A self-paced foundations course for IT, product and service professionals who need to manage digital products and the services built on them as one system. Six lessons cover the difference between products and services, product thinking for IT teams, the digital product lifecycle, value streams and operating models, measuring value and experience, and lightweight governance. Each lesson ends with an exercise applied to a real product or service you know.
What you will learn
- Distinguish digital products, services and offerings
- Apply product thinking to internal IT services
- Describe the digital product lifecycle from discovery to retirement
- Organise teams around value streams
- Choose outcome and experience measures
- Set up lightweight governance and funding for products
Lessons
- Products, Services and Offerings
- Product Thinking for IT Teams
- The Digital Product Lifecycle
- Value Streams and Operating Models
- Measuring Value and Experience
- Governance, Funding and Roadmaps
Self-paced course from Tech Skills Library. Educational content only; it is not an accredited qualification, licence or credential.
Lessons
Products, Services and Offerings
Product Thinking for IT Teams
Product thinking means focusing on the problems users have and the outcomes they need, then iterating towards a solution. It contrasts with project thinking, which focuses on delivering defined scope by a date and then disbanding the team. Project versus product Projects are temporary; products are long-lived and evolve. Projects measure success by on-time, on-budget […]
The Digital Product Lifecycle
Every digital product moves through stages from idea to retirement. Managing each stage deliberately avoids both premature launches and products that linger long after they stop creating value. Stages Discovery: understand the problem, users and market; validate that a solution is worth building. Design and build: create the product iteratively with user feedback. Launch and […]
Value Streams and Operating Models
An operating model describes how an organisation is structured and works to create value. Digital product and service management works best when teams are organised around value streams rather than technical silos. What is a value stream A value stream is the series of steps an organisation takes to create and deliver value for a […]
Measuring Value and Experience
Product and service management needs measures that show whether consumers are achieving the outcomes they need, not just whether systems are running. Layers of measurement Outcome measures: business results the product supports, such as faster order processing. Adoption measures: active users, feature usage and retention. Experience measures: satisfaction, effort scores and qualitative feedback. Service measures: […]
Governance, Funding and Roadmaps
Governance ensures that products and services support organisational goals, manage risk and comply with obligations. In a product model, governance should be lightweight and continuous rather than a series of heavy project gates. Product funding Instead of funding projects with fixed scope, fund long-lived product teams with a budget reviewed periodically, for example quarterly. Teams […]