Photo of hand drawing wireframe on paper

Product Management Lab

Product Management Lab at a glance

  • Term

    IAP + Spring (H3 + H4)

  • Units

    3 IAP + 6 Spring (H3+H4)

  • Eligible students

     MIT Sloan graduate students

  • Co-requisites

    15.785 Intro to Product Management 

  • Bid/Application

    Student Application/ Permission of Instructor 

  • Host organization profile

    Various size product companies – from start-up to big tech, looking for curious and intelligent students to help solve product development challenges leveraging the latest MBA frameworks and AI tools, as appropriate.

  • Sample sectors

    B2B, B2C, fintech, healthtech, SaaS, edtech, consumer

  • Sample host organizations

      Whoop, Toast, Skye, Nasdaq, OrderEAT, KAYAK, Intelihealth, EA Sports, Almanax       

     

The Lab and Projects

            In complement with 15.785: Intro to PM, PM Lab is a hands-on action learning course where students gain tangible experiences  in product development by applying classroom concepts to real-world PM challenges. Guided by project management milestones, students apply relevant skills, tools, and frameworks (including AI tools) which are covered in 15.785, AI Foundations, and complementary Sloan core courses. These skills are as relevant to the management of a feature(s) within a larger product, as they are to the management of the entire product development cycle at a start-up or inside a smaller, innovative teams at a more established companies.

          Prior to the first class session in early January, each student completes a questionnaire on their background and project preference. Cross-functional teams (e.g. MBAs, MBAns, SFMBAs) are encouraged but not required. Students are then matched into project teams (3-4 students/team) and paired with host companies and an Alumni PM Mentor.  

The Lab kicks-off with one hybrid (in-person or Zoom) class session the first week of January (IAP) where students will learn about the structure, deliverables, and expectations of the Lab and project work including:

  • Team formation, teamwork norms, and team member roles & responsibilities
  • Team introduction email to Host and first Zoom meeting with Hosts
  • Project work-plan development and iteration with Host company: scope of project, project timeline & deliverables product requirement doc (per Host company best practices)
  • Interim Project Presentation (near the beginning of the Spring semester)
  • Final Project Presentation 

Lab work during IAP is primarily devoted to intensive project work with regular Mentor and Host check-ins. Students should allocate approximately 10-11 hours / week on PM Lab project work for the four-week term of IAP.  Class sessions in Spring include occasional guest speakers; however, class time is primarily dedicated to team project working time and team check-ins to dig deeper into problem solving, use of PM tools, and effective management and communication strategies. Students should allocate approximately 4-5 hours / week outside of class on PM Lab project work and assignments for the thirteen-week term of Spring semester. 

Key Dates:

September: Coffee Chat in Roberts Family Forum - informal table to stop by and ask questions about the PM Lab and PM Certificate

 October: Student applications for PM Lab will be due 

November: Virtual Pitch Night – learn about projects from host companies! 

December: Project & team matching

  • Follow this link for the recording of PM-Lab Pitch Night 2024
  • Follow this link for the virtual host pitches from Pitch Night 2024

January: IAP term, four weeks

February to mid-May: Spring term, thirteen weeks (H3 & H4)

 

Student testimonial

  • Tommy Shi, MBA '22

    As part of a relatively lean team, I had the opportunity to get my hands on many different facets of the product development process, from driving research conversations with users to wireframing the product experience to drafting an initial database design. Through working with developers, I gained a better sense of how development teams think through the technical architecture behind products, the questions that are important to them, and how a PM can streamline their work.  

    Despite experiencing only a sliver of a PM’s scope of work, I gained critical takeaways in approaching product strategy and leading implementation that I can undoubtedly take into my own experiences down the road.