Welcome to the course! The course is broken up into 6 modules. Take your time to get familiar with the course platform and have a look around.
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As designers advance in their careers, product strategy becomes increasingly important. Companies evaluate senior designers on their ability to influence product direction, define requirements, and contribute to strategy—not just their craft skills. In this module, you'll learn why product skills matter for designers, explore the role of a PM and how to partner effectively with them, discover what it means to be a product thinking designer, and understand how to have influence in the early stages of product development. You'll gain the foundation needed to shift from executing on briefs to becoming a strategic partner who shapes product direction.
Product strategy is often a blind spot for designers, yet it's essential for influencing product direction and making informed decisions. In this module, you'll learn the three-layered framework that makes up product strategy: vision (your North Star destination), strategy (the route to get there), and roadmap (the tactical plan to execute). You'll explore how to create a compelling product vision with your team, understand different product strategies like challenger approaches and niching down, and learn how to build and prioritize roadmaps using frameworks like the impact vs. effort matrix. Finally, you'll discover where designers have the most influence in this process—from understanding the problem space and user needs to bringing ideas to life through visualization and asking the right questions that reduce risk and create team alignment.
Principles are value statements that guide decision-making and help teams stay focused on preferred outcomes. In this module, you'll learn why principles are critical for reducing subjectivity, improving prioritization, and promoting shared understanding across your team. You'll discover how to build conviction in your work through carefully considering alternatives, gaining experience, and leveraging research and data. We'll explore the three altitudes where principles exist—design team level, product domain level, and individual project level—and when to use each. Finally, you'll learn how to write effective principles that are non-conflicting, memorable, aligned to your strategy, and actually useful for making decisions, along with tactics for getting your team to adopt and embody them in their day-to-day work.
Clear communication is essential for designers to articulate their ideas, build alignment, and drive impact across their organization. In this module, you'll learn how to communicate effectively through writing and documentation using the four Cs framework (clear, concise, coherent, and compelling). You'll discover how to identify and manage stakeholders by understanding their motivations and positioning your work accordingly. We'll cover tactics for facilitating productive meetings, from setting clear agendas to managing different personalities and ensuring actionable outcomes. Finally, you'll learn how to provide strong rationale for your design decisions and give constructive feedback that helps others grow while building trust and collaboration across your team.
Your design ideas are only as valuable as your ability to tell their story and convince others. Storytelling shows up everywhere in your role—design reviews, job interviews, documentation, cross-functional meetings, and getting roadmap buy-in. In this module, you'll learn what makes a good story, including how to provide the right amount of context, tailor to your goal and audience, and make it clear why people are there. You'll discover the qualities of effective storytellers, from passion and empathy to confidence fueled by conviction. Finally, you'll learn the IDEAL framework for structuring your stories: identifying the problem, describing your solution, empathizing with the user, appealing to the business, and locking in agreement. You'll also explore how to use personas effectively and adapt your storytelling approach for different audiences, from executives to engineering peers.
Taking on initiatives beyond your core project work can transform you from a passive team member into an active contributor who shapes the culture and processes of your entire design organization. In this module, you'll learn about various initiatives you can own to give back to your design team and extend your influence. You'll explore how to create design team updates that bring visibility to the org's work, launch team newsletters that build connection, develop templates that save time and add consistency, and maintain your public design team brand to attract top talent. Finally, you'll learn how to pitch these initiatives to leadership by mapping them to stakeholder priorities, anticipating objections, and demonstrating how they solve existing team problems around efficiency, visibility, connection, and quality.