SkillsUp - Product Manager Toolkit

Product Manager Toolkit

Course Objective

To build a systemic understanding of the technical component of a digital product among product managers and to teach them how to use professional tools for analyzing processes, systems, integrations, APIs, and data.

The course is designed for

Product Managers, who want to strengthen their technical expertise and work more confidently with the Engineering Team.
Product Owners, who need to better understand product architecture, APIs, integrations, and data.
Professionals who are transitioning into a Technical Product Manager role.
Business Analysts, who want to expand their competencies in product management.
System Analysts, who participate in designing technical solutions and Technical Discovery.
IT Project Managers, who strive to better understand the technical side of products and communicate more effectively with developers.
Entrepreneurs and digital product leaders, who need to understand the technical side of a product without diving into programming.

Learning Format

Course duration: 19 sessions × 10 weeks
Homework assignments after each lecture and feedback from the trainer
Access to video recordings and materials in Google Classroom

What graduates of the online course get

🔗 View benefits

Program

Thinking of a Technical Product Manager

The role of technical competence in the work of a Product Manager
Business → Product → Technology: how the three levels are related
How a digital product is arranged
The main components of the modern IT system
Frontend, Backend, Database, API, External Services
How the PM interacts with the Engineering Team
Technical debt, dependencies, limitations and risks

Basics of modeling business processes

Why should the Product Manager model processes
The process as the basis of product functionality
AS-IS та TO-BE
Basic elements of BPMN
Events, Activities, Gateways, Pools, Lanes
Rules for building understandable models
Typical mistakes

BPMN: AS-IS modeling

How to describe the current process
Identification of participants and responsibility
Business rules
Exceptions and alternative scenarios
Bottlenecks and loss points
Manual operations and automation capabilities

BPMN: TO-BE Modeling

Designing the future process
Optimization of processes
Automation and digitalization
Determination of product opportunities
Impact of the TO-BE process on functional requirements
Model validation with business and engineering team

Use case and action diagrams

The system and its limits
Actors
Use Cases
Main and alternative scenarios
Activity Diagram
Relationship of Use Case, User Story and Acceptance Criteria
When should a PM use each model type?

Sequence diagram

What is a Sequence Diagram
Objects та Lifelines
Message
Synchronous / Asynchronous interactions
Conditions and Alternative Flows
How to show user interaction, frontend, backend and API
How a Sequence Diagram Helps Find Problems in Solution Design

Architectural modeling for Product Manager

What is software architecture
Monolithic and microservice architecture
How to read an architectural diagram
How a PM can independently visualize solutions

How APIs work

What is an API?
API as a contract between systems
Client / Server
Request / Response
HTTP
GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
HTTP Status Codes
Headers, Parameters, Body
Authentication and Authorization

REST API та JSON

Principles of REST
Resources and endpoints
URL structure
CRUD operations
JSON structure
Objects and Arrays
Nested objects
Pagination, filtering, sorting
Error handling

Swagger / OpenAPI

What is Swagger and OpenAPI
How to read API documentation
End points
Parameters
The body of the request
Answer scheme
Authentication
API examples
How PMs validate API compliance with business requirements

Integration and interaction of systems

Intersystem integrations
REST vs. SOAP
Webhuki
Synchronous and asynchronous integrations
Events
Message Queues - Basic Understanding
Third-party integrations
Integration failures
Retry, timeout, fallback
Workshop: product integration scheme with an external service

Database Basics for Product Manager

Why PM to understand data structure
Relational and non-relational databases
Tables, records and fields
Primary Key / Foreign Key
Relationships
One-to-One, One-to-Many, Many-to-Many
ERD

SQL для Product Manager

SELECT
WHERE
ORDER BY
GROUP BY
JOIN
COUNT, SUM, AVG
How to test product hypotheses through data
How to formulate requests to the Data / Engineering Team
Workshop: Analyzing product data using SQL

DevTools for Product Manager

What is Browser DevTools
Elements
Console
Network
HTTP requests
Request / Response
Status codes
Payload
Headers
Cookies and Storage — a basic understanding
How to independently investigate the behavior of a web product

Technical diagnostics of the product

How to analyze a technical problem
A bug vs. a product issue vs. a technical issue
Reproducing the problem
Logs and monitoring—a basic understanding
How to properly submit a problem to the Engineering Team
How a PM assesses the impact and priority of a technical problem

From a product idea to a technical solution

Product Requirement → Functional Requirement → Technical Solution
Decomposition of product functionality
Business rules
Functional / non-functional requirements
Limitation
Dependencies
Acceptance criteria
Definition of "Done" (Definition of Done)

Product Manager technical documentation

Structure of technical documentation
Solution overview
Process diagram
Use case
Sequence diagram
Architecture diagram
API documentation
Data model
Dependencies and assumptions
Journal of decision making
ADR — Architecture Decision Record

Technical Discovery and evaluation of technical solutions

How to conduct Technical Discovery
Technical risks
Feasibility
Technical debt
Creating vs. Buying and Integrating
Scalability
Security and performance are the baseline for PM
How to compare alternative technical solutions
How to work with an architect and Tech Lead

Final workshop: from Product Idea to Technical Solution

The final work includes:

BPMN AS-IS / TO-BE
Use Case diagram and sequence diagram
Architectural diagram
API interaction
Data model
Technical risks and dependencies
Technical decision document
Presentation of the decision and defense

FAQ

Who will this course be particularly useful for?

The course will be especially useful for specialists who already have experience working with digital products and want to move from a more humanitarian and analytical role to leading role in making product, business and technical decisions, able to confidently work at the interface of business, user and technology.

Do I need to be able to program to take the course?

No. The course does not involve teaching programming. Its purpose is to build the Product Manager's technical understanding of the product: how systems, APIs, integrations, databases and architecture work, in order to effectively communicate with the technical team and participate in technical decision-making.

How does this course differ from a regular Product Management course?

The course does not duplicate classic Product Management competencies. It is focused on technical tools of the product manager: BPMN, UML, system and architectural modeling, APIs, integrations, databases, SQL, DevTools and technical documentation. As a result, the Product Manager better understands how its product solutions are implemented at the technical level.

Would a Product Manager course that does not have a technical background be suitable?

Yes. The program is built from basic concepts to practical application and does not require deep technical knowledge at the start. The participant gradually develops technical thinking and learns to use the tools necessary to work with modern digital products.