Best Product Management Course [6 Courses for Product Managers]

Today we’re looking at the best product management course for this year.

🧠 Did you know? According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a product manager is over $116,000?

What is product management?

Product management is a function within an organization that deals with:

• product development
• planning
• forecasting
• product launches
• product marketing

And beyond.

What does a product manager do?

The role of a product manager is to plan and execute the product lifecycle including:

✅ assessing customer requirements

✅ defining the product vision

✅ working with the engineering, sales and marketing teams

This is all done to ensure a maximum income stream alongside customer satisfaction.

Let’s look at Gmail for example. While the email system is the product, it took a product manager to make it happen.

In fact, there may be a product manager for the Inbox that needs to plan its features for the long term. The product manager collaborates with other teams to ensure all features work as intended.

✏️ And now you can learn how to cultivate these skills by taking a product management course (or two!).

What’s the difference between a product manager and a project manager?

A product manager is responsible for product development within a company that meets the customer’s needs and fulfills the goals of the business.

On the other hand, a project manager is responsible for planning, organizing and completing projects that are on time and within budget.

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TLDR: Best Product Management Course

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Lean Product Management: Educative.io

💥 Best for Newbies 💥
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals: Coursera

💸 Best Value 💸
Learn Product Management: One Month

Best Product Management Course: At a Glance

	Interactive or video-based learning	Level	Duration	Cost
Lean Product Management: Educative.io	Interactive	Intermediate	3 hours	$29 for the course
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals: Coursera	Video	Beginner	11 hours	$79 per month
Learn Product Management: One Month	Video	Beginner	4 weeks	$299 for all courses
Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers: Codecademy Pro	Both	Intermediate	5 hours	$39.99 per month / $239.88 per year
Product Management: Executive Briefing: Pluralsight	Video	Beginner	19 minutes	$29 per month / $299 per year
Product Management Basics Learning Track: Treehouse	Video	Beginner	17 hours	$25 per month

1. Lean Product Management: Educative.io

💰 Cost: $29 per year for the course // $59 per month or $199 per year for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 3 hours
📉 Level: Intermediate
🖥️ Format: Interactive
🎖️ Certificate: Yes

Lean Product Management is an intermediate course where you’ll learn about product management techniques.

You’ll also discover common shortcomings among organizations and product teams such as:

✅ scaling before market testing

✅ building before understanding

✅ cognitive bias when making decisions

And beyond.

💡 Cognitive bias is the process of creating your own reality based on perception instead of objective input.

Is Educative.io worth it? Read our full Educative.io review.

Course Layout

Educative.io is typically an interactive learning environment. However, this course is a little different. Rather than work on exercises, this course is entirely comprised of reading and illustrations.

With 10 modules, you’ll discover:

• product life cycle techniques
• business modeling
• product direction shifting

And much more.

🚨 Ready for your product manager interview? Check out the book Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell.

Support

Educative.io has a support section for each lesson in Lean Product Management.

Eric Downs has loves Educative.io the most:

I’ve tried probably 5-7 different sites and Educative is easily the best…

– Eric Downs, Educative.io Student

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2. Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals: Coursera

💰 Cost: $79 per month
⏲️ Duration: 11 hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes

To be honest, Coursera isn’t one of our favorite platforms. However, it does have some hidden gems if you look in the right places. Check out RTC’s video review below:

https://youtu.be/bRjK89dxwx0

Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals will teach you how to:

✅ successfully manage your product

✅ use modern product management methods

✅ manage new products and amplify existing ones

And more.

Course Layout

Similar to Pluralsight and One Month, Coursera courses are video-based. But you’ll also find articles.

Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals is broken down into four, week-long modules where you’ll learn how to:

✅ effectively interface with stakeholders

✅ analyze growth, engagement and monetization

✅ put a sustainable program in place

And much, much more.

Find out what we think of Coursera in our full Coursera review.

🚨 Want to learn the most important skills required to be a product manager? Read the book Product Management’s Sacred Seven.

Support

Coursera offers support from mentors and other students.

Gabriel thinks Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals is the way to go:

A great crash course in the basics of Product Management methodology…

– Gabriel W., Student

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3. Learn Product Management: One Month

💰 Cost: $299 per year for all courses
⏲️ Duration: 4 weeks
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video and text
🎖️ Certificate: Yes

One Month is an ideal platform for absolute beginners looking to learn a new skill. The idea is that you can learn the essentials in… one month.

Learn Product Management is taught by Christian Arca, a former Product Manager at Etsy. In this course, you’ll learn how to conceive, plan and execute your products. You’ll also discover ways to develop, launch or overhaul your existing business.

Want to know more about One Month? Read our full One Month Review.

Course Layout

Unlike Educative.io, One Month courses are video-based. In fact, you’ll watch over 40 videos in Learn Product Management. The curriculum is broken down into four, week-long modules that are intended to be taken over the course of one month.

You’ll also find text notes and clarifications after every lesson.

In addition to seeing the process of product development in Learn Product Management, you’ll explore:

✅ product thinking

✅ metrics

✅ prioritization

And much more.

You’ll also learn how to convey these findings to team members and customers.

Sarah M. is a big fan of One Month:

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4. Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers: Codecademy Pro

💰 Cost: $39.99 per month or $239.88 per year ($19.99/mo) for all courses and Learning Tracks
⏲️ Duration: 5 hours
📉 Level: Intermediate (Prerequisite: SQL)
🖥️ Format: Interactive learning & video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes

Learn Intermediate SQL for Marketers and Product Managers is for experienced SQL programmers who are ready to apply the following as product managers:

✅ funnels

✅ churn

✅ attribution

Is Codecademy Pro worth it? Read our full Codecademy Pro review.

Course Layout

Codecademy Pro is similar to typical Educative.io courses: both use interactive learning.

You’ll also work on 3 stimulating projects:

• Usage Funnels with Warby Parker
• Calculating Churn Rates
• Attribution Queries

🚨 Want to become a great product manager? Check out the book The Product Book.

Support

Codecademy Pro has an expansive community where you can get help, share projects and chat with other students.

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5. Product Management: Executive Briefing: Pluralsight

💰 Cost: $29 per month
⏲️ Duration: 19 minutes
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: Yes

Product Management: Executive Briefing is a very short course on product management. Clocking in at just 19 minutes, this is a perfect course for students – or dogs! – with a shorter attention span:

💡 Did you know that learning in short bursts helps you retain information better?

Course Layout

Pluralsight is a video-based learning platform. So you won’t find any text or interactive lessons here. You’ll find mostly beginner courses on the platform, so it’s great for newbies who are visual learners.

With 5 short videos, you’ll learn about:

✅ the role of a product manager

✅ product management in different organizations

✅ a leader’s role in project management

And beyond.

🔥 Geena’s Hot Take

If you’re only interested in taking this course on Pluralsight, I wouldn’t bother spending the $29. I mean, that’s more than a buck for every minute of learn time! 💸

However, there are other product management courses and blog entries on the platform. So if you’re serious about product management, the yearly subscription might be worth the investment.

Want to know our thoughts on Pluralsight? Read our full Pluralsight review.

Support

Pluralsight does not offer support for its students, but encourages them to form guilds. ⚔️

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Now let’s look at the final best product management course on our list.

🚨 ALERT 🚨

As of September 2021, Treehouse has laid off 90% of its staff. The future of Treehouse is unknown.

6. Product Management Basics Learning Track: Treehouse

💰 Cost: $25 per month
⏲️ Duration: 17 hours
📉 Level: Beginner
🖥️ Format: Video
🎖️ Certificate: No

In our opinion, Treehouse does an decent job of walking students through the curriculum step-by-step, so it’s perfect for absolute beginners.

Product Management Basics is a Learning Track. So rather than one course, there are thirteen. As a result, Learning Tracks typically take a few months to complete. Some courses include:

• Introduction to Product Design
• Scrum Basics
• Introducing Coda
• Intro to Design Thinking

And much more.

Layout

Treehouse courses are video-based. So for every course, you’ll watch a series of videos. All courses in the Product Management Basics Learning Track are beginner-level.

Support

Treehouse has a community forum where you can get help from other students.

Best Product Management Course: Conclusion

Now let’s do a quick recap of the courses we touched on.

Today we looked at 6 of the best product management courses including:

🔥 Best Overall 🔥
Lean Product Management: Educative.io

💥 Best for Newbies 💥
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals: Coursera

💸 Best Value 💸
Learn Product Management: One Month

So whether you’re a beginner or intermediate learner, we think theses are the best product management courses for this year.

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Readers of Best Product Management Course are also reading:

• 16 Best Product Management Books
• 15 Project Management Books for Beginners and Beyond
• Best Project Management Course
• 11 Best Performance Management Books
• 16 Best Time Management Books

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