Product Management and Lean Startup Principles
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Recommended experience
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Identify and validate target customer segments
Uncover unmet customer needs and define value propositions
Prioritize and build MVP features effectively
Skills you'll gain
- Target Market
- Product Marketing
- Business Metrics
- Customer Analysis
- Target Audience
- User Experience
- Product Management
- Product Development
- User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) Design
- Performance Measurement
- Agile Methodology
- Web Analytics
- Persona Development
- Agile Product Development
- Lean Methodologies
- New Product Development
- Product Improvement
- UI/UX Strategy
- User Feedback
- Business Operations
Details to know
March 2026
15 assignments
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
There are 15 modules in this course
Based on the best-selling book, The Lean Product Playbook, by Dan Olsen. This course introduces Lean principles to help you achieve product-market fit. It guides you in identifying customer needs, building effective Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and making data-driven decisions through customer feedback. Lean principles enable faster iteration and more informed decisions, leading to products that better meet market demands.
By completing this course, you will develop essential skills to optimize your product development process. You will learn how to identify target customer segments, validate unmet needs, and prioritize MVP features effectively. These skills are crucial for anyone looking to drive successful product development in a fast-paced business environment. What sets this course apart is its practical, hands-on approach. The combination of theory and real-world applications empowers you to apply Lean principles in your own work. You will also receive actionable steps for building products, validating assumptions, and iterating based on feedback. This course benefits entrepreneurs, product managers, and development teams who want to streamline their product development processes. While no prior experience with Lean methodologies is required, a basic understanding of product concepts will help you get the most out of the course. From The Lean Product Playbook Copyright @ 2015 by Dan Olsen. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
In this section, we explore the Lean Product Process to align products with market needs, emphasizing validated learning, iterative development, and real-world feedback for sustainable solutions.
What's included
2 videos3 readings1 assignment
2 videos•Total 2 minutes
- Course Overview•1 minute
- Achieving Product-Market Fit with the Lean Product Process - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Your Product•10 minutes
- The Lean Product Process•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Lean Product Process and Product-Market Fit Fundamentals•10 minutes
In this section, we explore the distinction between problem space, where customer needs reside, and solution space, where product implementations are developed. Understanding this separation enhances product development accuracy and aligns solutions with real user requirements.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Problem Space versus Solution Space - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 25 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- The What and the How•5 minutes
- A Tale of Two Apple Features•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Navigating Problem and Solution Spaces•10 minutes
In this section, we identify target customer segments using segmentation techniques and develop personas to understand their needs and behaviors for improved product-market fit.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Determine Your Target Customer (Step 1) - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Users Versus Buyers•10 minutes
- How to Create Personas•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Defining and Engaging Your Target Customer•10 minutes
In this section, we explore methods to identify unmet customer needs using frameworks like the Kano Model and importance-satisfaction analysis to guide product development and prioritize features effectively.
What's included
1 video9 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Identify Underserved Customer Needs (Step 2) - Overview Video•1 minute
9 readings•Total 90 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Customer Discovery Interviews•10 minutes
- My Hierarchy of Web User Needs•10 minutes
- Uber's Success Meeting Underserved Needs•10 minutes
- Disruptive Innovation: Music on the go•10 minutes
- An Importance and Satisfaction Example with Real Data•10 minutes
- Jobs to Be Done•10 minutes
- Opportunity to Add Customer Value•10 minutes
- The Kano Model•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Identifying Underserved Market Opportunities•10 minutes
In this section, we focus on identifying key customer needs, defining a minimum viable product, and refining hypotheses through user feedback to ensure effective product development.
What's included
1 video4 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Define Your Value Proposition (Step 3) - Overview Video•1 minute
4 readings•Total 35 minutes
- Introduction•5 minutes
- Value Propositions for Search Engines•10 minutes
- Not So Cuil•10 minutes
- Skating to Where the Puck Will Be•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Defining Competitive Advantage•10 minutes
In this section, we identify MVP candidate features aligned with value propositions, prioritize them by customer value, and organize them for solution validation and iterative development.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Specify Your Minimum Viable Product Feature Set (Step 4) - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Scoping with Story Points•10 minutes
- Approximating ROI•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- MVP Feature Set and Agile Story Writing•10 minutes
In this section, we explore creating MVP prototypes to test hypotheses and gather customer feedback. Key concepts include UX design, low-cost testing methods, and refining features based on insights.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Create Your MVP Prototype (Step 5) - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Quantitative versus Qualitative MVP Tests•10 minutes
- Landing Page MVP Example Buffer•10 minutes
- Marketing A/B Testing•10 minutes
- Qualitative Product MVP Tests•10 minutes
- Wireframes•10 minutes
- Interactive Prototype•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- MVP Development and User Testing Fundamentals•10 minutes
In this section, we cover UX design for MVP prototypes, focusing on usability, interaction design, and user research to improve product-market fit.
What's included
1 video2 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Apply the Principles of Great UX Design - Overview Video•1 minute
2 readings•Total 40 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Delight•30 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Principles of Great UX Design•10 minutes
In this section, we explore qualitative user testing to validate MVP assumptions, uncover product blind spots, and improve user feedback through structured sessions and open questions.
What's included
1 video9 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Test Your MVP with Customers (Step 6) - Overview Video•1 minute
9 readings•Total 95 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- In-Person Remote and Unmoderated User Testing•10 minutes
- How to Recruit Customers in Your Target Market•10 minutes
- How to Avoid the Scheduling Trap•10 minutes
- How to Structure the User Test•5 minutes
- How to Ask Good Questions•5 minutes
- Ask Open Versus Closed Questions•5 minutes
- I Feel Your Pain•30 minutes
- Usability versus Product-Market Fit•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- User Testing and Customer Feedback Fundamentals•10 minutes
In this section, we cover iterative testing and refining product hypotheses based on user feedback.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Iterate and Pivot to Improve Product-Market Fit - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Wave 1•10 minutes
- Wave 4•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Iterative Product Development and Learning•10 minutes
In this section, we apply the Lean Product Process through a real-world case study, focusing on MVP design, customer feedback analysis, and iterative product improvement for better market fit.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- An End-to-End Lean Product Case Study - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 60 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Define Your Value Proposition•10 minutes
- Create Your MVP Prototype•5 minutes
- Recruiting Customers in Our Target Market•10 minutes
- What We Learned from Customers•5 minutes
- Iterating Based on What We Learned•10 minutes
- Climbing the Product-Market Fit Mountain•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Lean Product Development Case Study•10 minutes
In this section, we explore Agile development practices, including Scrum and Kanban, to reduce risk and improve product delivery. Key concepts focus on prioritization, collaboration, and efficient workflow design.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Build Your Product Using Agile Development - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Scrum•10 minutes
- Kanban•10 minutes
- Kanban Tools•10 minutes
- Cross-Functional Collaboration•10 minutes
- Break Stories Down•10 minutes
- Test-Driven Development•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Agile Development Fundamentals•10 minutes
In this section, we explore using analytics and key metrics to measure product performance, analyze user behavior, and optimize conversion and retention for business growth.
What's included
1 video3 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Measure Your Key Metrics - Overview Video•1 minute
3 readings•Total 60 minutes
- Introduction•30 minutes
- Cohort Analysis•10 minutes
- The Equation of Your Business for an Advertising Revenue Model•20 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Measuring Business Success•10 minutes
In this section, we explore defining key metrics, measuring baseline values, and using A/B testing to optimize product and business decisions through data-driven insights.
What's included
1 video5 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Use Analytics to Optimize Your Product and Business - Overview Video•1 minute
5 readings•Total 50 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Avoiding a Local Maximum•10 minutes
- Measure Baseline Values for Metrics•10 minutes
- The Metric Optimization Loop•10 minutes
- Optimization with A/B Testing•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Optimizing Products Through Data-Driven Decisions•10 minutes
In this section, we explore the Lean Product Process, MVP design, and retention analysis to validate product-market fit and enhance customer satisfaction through iterative testing and data-driven decisions.
What's included
1 video1 reading1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Conclusion - Overview Video•1 minute
1 reading•Total 10 minutes
- Conclusion - The Reading•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Product-Market Fit and Development Strategies•10 minutes
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