DE / EN

IS 629: Agile Software Product Management and Design

Contents
More and more products, from consumer to business markets, show an ever-increasing amount of software at their very heart. The ability to understand, design, and manage software-intense products has become of great importance to ensure sustainable success across all industries. This module introduces key aspects of the entire software product lifecycle, ranging from product strategy and planning, to the actual product development and finally the postdevelopment phase covering aspects such as the product launch and product support. Furthermore, the interplay between processes, people, and practices will be discussed and contemporary software development paradigms will be framed into this interplay. This course puts specific emphasis on the two roles of the product manager and the product designer (also: Usability / User Experience Professional) within software development. Following an interdisciplinary perspective, this course will introduce key concepts from the field of management, marketing and human computer interaction. The course contents will be put into a practical perspective by selected industry talks. Furthermore, as part of a case study, the students will be asked to analyze and propose solutions for a given software product development challenge leveraging the knowledge acquired within the lecture and industry talks.

Learning outcomes
Students

  • learn basic concepts and characteristics of software products and the associated software product lifecycle.
  • understand the underlying mechanisms for a successful interplay between people, processes, and practices within product development.
  • understand key concepts and methods required for fulfilling the product management and product design role.
  • analyze and propose solutions for a given software product challenge along the entire lifecycle.

Necessary prerequisites

Recommended prerequisites
IS 540 (Management of Enterprise Systems)

Forms of teaching and learningContact hoursIndependent study time
Lecture2 SWS8 SWS
Case Study Presentation1 SWS6 SWS
ECTS credits6
Graded yes
Workload180h
LanguageEnglish
Form of assessmentWritten exam (60 min, 60%) and case study (40 %)
Restricted admissionno
Further information
Examiner
Performing lecturer
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Höhle
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Höhle
Frequency of offeringSpring semester
Duration of module 1 semester
Range of applicationM.Sc. MMM, M.Sc. WiPäd, M.Sc. VWL, M.Sc. Wirt. Inf.
Preliminary course work
Program-specific Competency GoalsCG 1, CG 2
LiteratureBasic literature about the following topics will be provided in the lecture:
  • Agile methodology
  • Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
  • UI/UX concepts
Course outlineLecture Overview:
  • Basics of software product management (tailor made vs. standard software, role of product manager)
  • Product strategy (trend analysis, analyzing competitive information, etc.)
  • Software product development framework (e.g., SAFe)
  • Product portfolio management (e.g., role of epics)
  • Program management (e.g., agile release train)
  • Team-level (e.g., key roles, user-centered agile software development)
  • Post product development