Getting 1,000 Product Managers Through a Six-Week Non-Mandatory Program

Why the framework had not reached everyone

A framework in place for a year, an audience it had not yet reached, and a year-end target three months out.

A global financial services company had rolled out a new product lifecycle management framework more than a year earlier, and consistent use across the organization was still uneven. The rollout had run on documentation and large virtual sessions — a format that could carry the material but could not hold a distributed audience of 5,000+ product managers across regions and time zones. The goal of 100% adoption by year-end needed a delivery model that could reach all of them. We had three months to design and ship one, on a cohort-based platform the company had never used before.

My role

Lead learning experience designer, reporting to the director who led the team.

I was the lead learning experience designer. My director led the team. I designed most of the training content, ran the stakeholder engagements that shaped the exercises, and managed the full-time contractor we brought on.

What the research found, and the three decisions that followed

Interviews pointed at infrastructure and motivation underneath the training problem.

I ran interviews with stakeholders to pin down what people needed to learn, and I read through dozens of framework documents until I understood the material well enough to build training around it. The research pointed at two problems underneath the training itself: infrastructure and motivation.

A new platform. The team chose a cohort-based platform (learners move through the program together on a set schedule) that was new to the company, and we learned it as we built on it. That added risk to a tight timeline, and it gave the program the reach the target required.

Practice over lecture. I designed exercises where people applied the framework in simulated scenarios, focused on the templates the research had flagged as a barrier to adoption. The goal was for people to use the framework at their desks the next day.

Discussion prompts across the six weeks. I wrote prompts and placed them through the program to connect learners with each other and to learn how they worked. One prompt about generative AI in product management turned up insights that proved useful well beyond the training.

To hit the deadline, I used generative AI to speed up drafting and revision, which gave me more time for the design work. The project later brought in expert instructional designers to sharpen the content, design-thinking sessions to get the group to a shared plan, and an outsourced project management group, with my director coordinating the effort.

What we shipped

A six-week cohort, plus the support structure that kept people in it.

The core was a six-week cohort built for immediate use: hands-on exercises with the real framework templates, discussion boards, and points, badges, and leaderboards. It ended with a final assessment and an accreditation badge learners could put on LinkedIn.

The team built support around it. Kick-off calls set expectations. Open office hours gave learners somewhere to bring problems in real time. I wrote the nudges and encouragement that went out over the six weeks. About 12 framework ambassadors, product managers who had completed the program themselves, moderated the discussion boards and answered questions.

Measurement ran at every stage: user acceptance testing during development, confidence surveys before and after, reaction surveys for NPS, and focus groups at the end.

Screens from the cohort platform and the exercise templates are withheld under client confidentiality.

Results

87% of the first wave finished a cohort nobody was required to take.

The first wave put 1,400 learners into the cohort and 87% of them finished it, for a training nobody was required to take. NPS came in at 54 (a satisfaction score on a scale of -100 to 100). Confidence scores rose from before to after. The company was back on track for its year-end goal.

In the focus groups and reaction surveys, learners said the cohort format worked around their schedules, that the discussion boards let them hear how other teams and regions handled the framework, and that the exercises finally taught them the templates. They rated the game elements positively and treated the badge as recognition that carried weight at work.

What carried over

The program was soon adapted into a synchronous training for new hires, and is required learning for all new product practitioners.

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What learners said:

“One of the more informative trainings I’ve participated in. I loved the self-pace and the engaging content. Would highly recommend.”

“Great content, well presented. The templates made it super easy to adopt.”

What the client said:

“I consistently get feedback from product practitioners about how good this course is. I look forward to our continued partnership.”