Where should I look for training on product management?

Firstly, thank you for your question, and it’s one that I believe any aspiring or seasoned product manager should be asking.  The fact is that regardless of your domain, both business and technical landscapes continue to change, and as a product management leader I try to stay at the forefront of changes.

In terms of where to look, it really comes down to where you are in your career, and what you’re looking to get out of the training.  Also, remember that not all training needs to be classroom-based. Experience from working the job itself accounts for most of the learning in the field (and typically aligns to the way your organization views and conducts product management).

That said, a few thoughts depending on what you may be looking to achieve:

1.      Learning the Basics.  This can be helpful if you’re not new to product management or have been away for a while.  A couple of good areas to look at:

• University or College Courses: Universities including Kellogg, Capella, Cornell and more offer certificates in Product Management, or you might choose to take a more formal degree in an adjacent field like business, marketing, or computer science.

• Online Courses and Bootcamps: Platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn, the Product Institute, Product School, and Udemy offer courses focused on Product Management.
  

2.      Advancing your skills.  We’re often asking ourselves if there is a better way to do product management.  For these I’d recommend looking at:

• Online Courses, especially where you can select courses covering the areas you want to brush up on, like with the Product Institute and LinkedIn.

• Blogs and Podcasts. Personally, I like to try to keep up with the latest updates in the field, and to do so I read blogs or listening to podcasts from individuals I respect in the industry, like Melissa Perri (see her site with links to all her content and classes at https://melissaperri.com) and Lenny Rachitsky (see Lenny’s Podcast at https://www.youtube.com/@LennysPodcast). There are others out there but, in my opinion, those are two great leaders in the space.

• Books. There are many good ones out there, but a few ones that I've read more recently include, "Working Backwards" by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, "Escaping the Build Trap" by Melissa Perri, "Continuous Discovery Habits" by Teresa Torres, "Hacking Growth" by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown, and both "Inspired" and "Empowered" by Marty Cagan.

• Local Groups and Communities.  ATX Product Happy Hour is an example of a group that gets together in Austin periodically, and you should look to your region for similar examples.
  

Lastly, a caveat about online training and personas.  There are a lot of folks out on social media, on the internet, and on professional sites like LinkedIn professing to be able to teach you product management. I would be cautious and recommend that you do your research.  It doesn’t matter if they’ve worked at Microsoft, or Amazon, or have taken an online course with Harvard or similar (note a new habit where people drop a top-tier university into their profile as if they have a full degree from there, and when you look further you find they’ve only taken an online course).  Net is, look at their experience or credentials, or even reviews from others, and see if they have the ‘right stuff’ for you to invest your time or even monies in.