January 30 – June 6, 2026
Growth hack your product management career with guidance from a curated community of Executives in Residence who are dedicated to helping the next generation of product leaders become their best. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from their expertise, hear how they forged their career paths, and receive advice tailored to your goals.
The program provides workshops on best practices in product management and how to position yourself for that next big promotion or career jump.
In addition to teaching topic-focused workshops, each month Executives in Residence will host office hour sessions, moderate online group discussions, and lead book clubs highlighting titles chosen by them as being game changing for your career. This multi-faceted approach will help you apply what you learn during the course to your projects at work and to your career development.
Program Highlights
- 10 Executives in Residence — industry experts guiding your learning and giving personalized career advice
- Live online workshops, office hours, and book clubs
- In-person orientation, occasional events, and graduation at UW Seattle to spend time with your classmates off-line
- Ongoing online discussions with Executives in Residence and your classmates
- 4-month program, 5 sessions per month plus electives, 1-1.5 hours per session
- Experienced peer group of product management professionals
Content Overview and Schedule
Sessions take place from 12-1pm or in the evening to maximize the downtime during your day. The program manager, your guide throughout the course, will send calendar invites with instructions for how to join each live online session to help you keep organized. Carve out the time to intentionally focus on your career path and gain a competitive edge.
Workshops
Topic-focused, informative sessions led by industry experts
Live online workshops provide direct access to seasoned professionals who bring real-world experience and insights into the latest trends, strategies, and best practices within the industry. Workshops will foster meaningful discussions, collaborative problem-solving, and networking opportunities with your peers.
Office Hours
Open-ended informal talks pertinent to your career
Tap into the brain trust of the Executives in Residence. Come with questions, leave with expert advice on ways to stand out to employers. Share experiences with your peers and gain insights into the objectives they are pursuing in their own careers.
Book Club
Discuss must-read, career-enhancing books
The books included in the program will spark ideas, strengthen your leadership skills, and expand your knowledge of product management best practices and the tech industry overall. Each title has been selected by one of the Executives in Residence who will share what resonates with them most about the book and how they have been able to apply it to their career.
All books are provided at the beginning of the program so you can read them on your schedule to prepare for the live online sessions.
Online Discussion Group
Stay connected to your classmates and build upon the momentum you’ve gained in the scheduled sessions by joining in the ongoing online chats. The group conversation is moderated by different Executives in Residence each month, so you’ll have the chance to ask them timely questions between scheduled sessions.
Electives
Personalize your experience in the program by choosing from a selection of online elective sessions, led by accomplished industry leaders who bring real-world expertise directly to you. While specific topics are still being finalized, these interactive sessions will give you direct access to invaluable insights and practical knowledge from professionals who have shaped successful products.
Capstone Project
Put your learning into action by joining with fellow students in a working pod to tackle a complex strategic challenge that mirrors the decisions facing today’s business leaders. Throughout the program, your pod will collaborate to develop and refine a comprehensive solution to a business case, supported by two dedicated Executive in Residence advisors. It’s your chance to step into an executive mindset and persuasively defend your strategic recommendations before a panel of industry leaders. Each pod member will be expected to present a portion of the recommendation.
See what is scheduled for each month of the program below:
*Events and speakers subject to change
Welcome and Networking Event
Friday, January 30, 4-7pm
In person at UW Seattle Campus
Meet your classmates and program staff at the in-person orientation at the UW Seattle Campus and start building connections.
February Workshops
Customer Insights
Tuesday, February 3, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Jessi Alva
Learning about customer insights is fundamental to being an effective product manager. By leveraging customer feedback and data to inform your decisions, you can create products that are more valuable, relevant, and successful in the market.
After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:
- Define the different types of customer insights.
- Learn how to gather and analyze customer insights.
- Be aware of the legal and privacy concerns for gathering and sharing customer data.
- Understand how to leverage customer insights within the product development lifecycle.
Human-centered Product Practices: Customer Discovery
Tuesday, February 17, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Robert Neer
Product managers must have confidence and conviction that their product is solving meaningful customer problems in the ways that work for the business. How do you gain that conviction?
Many product managers find their energy largely consumed with activities deep in the software development lifecycle: user-story creation, acceptance criteria development, non-functional requirements, grooming, bug triage, and other day-to-day collaborative efforts in the BUILD phase. How do you know you are leading the team to build the RIGHT thing, anchored in customer insight and meeting a real, meaningful customer need in a way that drives business outcomes?
Through this workshop you will better understand the mindsets necessary for conducting effective product discovery, learn and practice techniques and approaches to conduct unbiased discovery, form hypotheses, and approach validation. You will gain confidence that your products will be successful and exceed your customers’ expectations.
As more and more of the product lifecycle can be automated and augmented with AI, Product managers who bring their uniquely human skills to the role will thrive and create the most successful products. These human skills are critical in effective customer discovery, driven by listening, synthesis, creativity, empathy, experimentation and validation. This workshop will give participants a discovery framework and active practice in key techniques.
FEBRUARY OFFICE HOURS TOPICS
Converting an Idea into a Successful Product
Friday, February 13, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Marcello Majonchi
Customer Discovery
Friday, February 20, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with John Yurcisin
BOOK CLUB
The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed by Alberto Savoia
Monday, February 23, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Marcello Majonchi
FEBRUARY ONLINE GROUP DISCUSSION
Led by Executive in Residence
MARCH WORKSHOPS
The Science of Product
Tuesday, March 3, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Dave Fleischman
The Science of Product distills the mechanics of product management into a knowable and simple set of steps to turn ideas based on guesses and assumption into logical work that promotes a growth mindset.
Balancing Product Roadmap
Tuesday, July 15, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Sudha Elavarti
This workshop can equip you with the skills and knowledge to create powerful product roadmaps, enhance your ability to prioritize opportunities, and strengthen your communication and collaboration skills to ultimately drive product success.
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
- Apply a framework for building balanced product roadmaps considering all stakeholders’ needs.
- Analyze and prioritize opportunities from various sources (business, customer, hackathons, data) to ensure resources are allocated effectively, maximizing impact.
- Develop strategic narratives that connect roadmap initiatives to product vision and business goals to gain buy-in and support.
- Communicate roadmaps effectively to diverse stakeholders using frameworks and visuals.
- Collaboratively refine and adjust roadmaps based on feedback and changing priorities.
MARCH OFFICE HOURS TOPICS
Framing Problems to Unlock Transformational Ideas
Monday, March 9, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Leslie Grandy
Roadmapping
Monday, March 16, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Jessi Alva
MARCH BOOK CLUB
Outcomes Over Output: Why Customer Behavior is the Key Metric for Business Success by Joshua Seiden
Friday, March 27, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Dave Fleischman
MARCH ONLINE GROUP DISCUSSION
Led by Executive in Residence
APRIL WORKSHOPS
Product Strategy: Learning from and Developing Successful Flywheels
Thursday, April 9, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence John Yurcisin
This workshop will explore the best practices of world-class companies and how they get their flywheels to spin, which will help you to think about sustainable product strategy. We will go discuss both for-profit and non-profit organizations – why and how they have developed flywheels, what triggers them, and how they are sustained. Learn the key elements to consider in crafting a flywheel as well as potential pitfalls and challenges in the process. This will be a practical workshop using real-life examples and offering applicable takeaways.
APRIL OFFICE HOURS TOPICS
Idea Generation: How Constraints Fuel Creativity
Thursday, April 23, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Leslie Grandy
Constraints fuel creativity by providing structure, focus, and challenges that drive individuals and teams to think innovatively. This workshop will illustrate how boundaries can ignite remarkable innovation rather than stifle ideas. With proven problem-solving frameworks, you’ll learn to challenge conventional thinking, encourage collaboration, and develop disruptive solutions. Research indicates that individuals and teams operating within specific boundaries are more likely to explore uncharted pathways to overcome those limitations.
In this interactive workshop, you will learn:
- How to embrace constraints as a motivating challenge and a lever to spark divergent thinking.
- How using constraints can reduce the overwhelming nature of unlimited possibilities.
- How to leverage generative AI to accelerate creative outcomes in a constrained environment.
Stakeholder Management
Friday, April 17, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Matt Carr
Product Strategy
Friday, April 24, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence: Karim Meghji
APRIL BOOK CLUB
Creative Velocity by Leslie Grandy
Monday, April 27, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session led by the author
APRIL ONLINE GROUP DISCUSSION
Led by Executive in Residence
MAY WORKSHOPS
Setting Product Metrics
Tuesday, May 19, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Karim Meghji
You cannot improve what you don’t measure; this is what motivates product managers in the relentless pursuit of finding, understanding, measuring, baselining and ultimately goal setting against their product’s metrics. When used well, product metrics can tell the story of the user – what delights them, what frustrates them, what engages them, and what keeps them coming back – in an objective, and high conviction way, such that product managers can make insightful, confident, and customer-centric decisions on what to do next to make their product better.
After participating in this workshop, you will better understand the vocabulary of metrics, the different types of metrics, why metrics matter, when metrics matter, and how to approach defining metrics for your products.
Command the Room: How to Convince Your Audience They Need What You Have
Thursday, May 21, 5-6pm
Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Jono Luk
As much as product managers should know how to build things or lead teams that do, they should know how the product is used and the value it brings to their customers. Knowing what their customers view as important leads to better product development.
This workshop will take you through the list of “things that customers and businesses could care about” as the starting place to anticipate the potential plays and have discussions that lead to positive outcomes. These same “care abouts” will help with better prioritization and trade-off decision making during the product development lifecycle since you will be able to better account for what the customers/businesses need.
By the end of the workshop, you will know:
- How to position product capabilities in terms of what the customer needs.
- How to find ways to land and then expand (either because your customer says “I don’t need [your solution]” or “I can’t change [my existing solutions] now”).
- How to read the room and find carrots in a discussion.
- How to think about prioritizing core engineering work based on the conversation strategies above.
MAY OFFICE HOURS TOPICS
OKRs: Measuring What Matters
Monday, May 11, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Robert Neer
Delivering on Vision
Monday, May 18, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Jono Luk
MAY BOOK CLUB
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Monday, May 25, 12-1pm
1 Hour Live Online Session with Executive in Residence Jono Luk
MAY ONLINE GROUP DISCUSSION
Led by Executive in Residence
Capstone Presentations and Graduation
Friday, June 5, 4:30-8pm
In-person at UW Seattle Campus
Application and Fees
The program is for ambitious, experienced Product Managers who want to invest in their knowledge of industry best practices and their ability to advance their career goals.
Applicant Requirements
- Have held or currently hold the title of Product Manager for a minimum of 3 years
- Recently or currently personally responsible for one or more products
- Experience shipping at least one new product or feature
Receive notification: January 18, 2026
Program fee due: January 23, 2026
Program fee: $3,900
Upon completion of the program you will receive a verified badge from UW Executive Education to put on your LinkedIn profile.