Indian Institute of Management Kashipur

Postgraduate Program in Management

Information Technology Product Management

Term VI – 2019-20

Credit: 1

Instructor
Name: Mr. Venkatesh Krishnamurthy (Profile on last page)
Contact Info: kvenkatesh.mail@gmail.com, +91-984-485-2874
Office Hours: Any business hours after the classes, during the campus visits. No appointments required.

Prerequisites:

Course Description:
This is a Product Management course. This course aims to enable the students with the knowledge of
Information Technology business techniques and processes employed in product and platform companies.
It may be noted that IT engineering in product companies is quite different from that of IT services
companies.

With the help of examples, students will be taken through the study of one complete software product
and platform cycle.

This course is based on industry practices & processes. It is not a software engineering course.The basic
theme of this course is “managing the product cycle to ensure the financial success of a product in the
market”.
The following sections explain the course in greater detail.

Course Objectives:

This course is created to take the students through the entire software product, platform design and
engineering process, compare with that of hardware products as well as to know all it takes to set the product
for success in the market. The students can get a good conceptual understanding and get to use management
tools for product engineering.

As an outcome of this course, students can seek product management, program management and product
evangelization roles in IT product companies. More importantly, this course will give confidence to
students to create their product start-ups.

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 1. Understand a Product Organization and its specific functions
2. PLO1a, PLO1b: Understand the complete Product Development Life Cycle
3. PLO1a, PLO1b: Understand Product Management function completely
4. PLO4b, PLO1h: Learn how to create a product / platform and to launch it globally

Required Textbook:

Create Profitable Products (ISBN 9789352127825) authored by the Instructor

Pedagogy and Course Requirements:

IT experience is not a pre-requisite for this course, as the communication will be simplified for
students of non-IT disciplines to understand and appreciate this course.

Class Discussions

These will be based on prescribed reading for the session, examples and situation analysis.

Project

Students should form teams of 3 and work on a project pertaining to an IT product.

Grading:

Component Assessment weight

Product / Platform Concept Acceptance Presentation 15%
Product / Platform Concept Acceptance Document 15%
Product / Platform Business Plan Presentation 15% PLO1h
Product / Platform Business Plan Document 15% PLO1b
End Term Exam 40% PLO1b

Tentative Class Schedule

No. Topic Course material in addition to Instructor’s articles
and references
1 Introduction to Software Business 1. Relevant Chapter from the text book

2. KPCB Internet Study

2 Introduction to PDLC
3 Concept Acceptance Concept Acceptance Template

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4 Concept Acceptance presentations
5 Capturing the market requirements 1. MRD template

2. security related articles provided by

the Instructure

6 Capturing the product requirements PRD template

7 External Technology acquisition External dependence checklist
8 MRD presentations
9 QE Planning QE checklist
10 Globalization 1. Globalization checklist

2. Short cases in Globalization

successes and failures

11 Product Development Business Plan template provided by the Instructor

12 Pre-release 1. Pre-release checklist

2. Pre-release best practices

13 Branding Branding checklist

14 Management of Intellectual Property 1. IP checklist

2. Introduction to structuring IP
contracts

15 Technical Documentation Technical Documentation checklist

16 Product / Platform launch Launch checklist
17 Comparison of PDLC to SDLC Notes provided by the Instructor
18 Hardware product engineering Notes provided by the Instructure
19 PDLC and SaaS
20 Summarizing the PM function and
review of learning

Course Policies

1. Responsibility for Course Materials: You are responsible for all material covered in class. If you
are absent, you are responsible for obtaining the information you missed.
2. Classroom Behavior: We expect you to participate in class activities in a mature and appropriate
manner. Disruptive or otherwise unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated.
3. Mobile and Laptop Use: Mobiles and laptops are not permitted in the classroom. I will let you
know beforehand if laptop is required for a class. In the class, you must keep your laptop down
unless asked by the instructor.
4. Academic Conduct: All members of the academic community at IIM Kashipur are expected to
practice and uphold standards of academic integrity and honesty. Academic integrity means
representing oneself and one’s work honestly. Misrepresentation is cheating since it means students

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 are claiming credit for ideas or work not actually theirs and are thereby seeking a grade that is not
actually earned. Following are some examples of academic dishonesty:
i. Cheating on quizzes and examinations. This includes using materials such as books
and/or notes when not authorized by the instructor, copying from someone else’s paper,
helping someone else copy work, substituting another’s work as one’s own, theft of exam
copies, or other forms of misconduct on exams.
ii. Plagiarizing the work of others. Plagiarism is using someone else’s work or ideas without
giving that person credit; by doing this students are, in effect, claiming credit for someone
else’s thinking. Whether students have read or heard the information used, they must
document the source of information. When dealing with written sources, a clear distinction
should be made between quotations (which reproduce information from the source word-
for-word within quotation marks) and paraphrases (which digest the source of information
and produce it in the student’s own words). Both direct quotations and paraphrases must
be documented. Even if students rephrase, condense or select from another person’s work,
the ideas are still the other person’s, and failure to give credit constitutes misrepresentation
of the student’s actual work and plagiarism of another’s ideas. Buying a paper or using
information from the World Wide Web or Internet without attribution and handing it in as
one’s own work is plagiarism.
iii. Falsifying records or providing misinformation regarding one’s credentials.
iv. Unauthorized collaboration on computer assignments and unauthorized access to and
use of computer programs, including modifying computer files created by others and
representing that work as one’s own.
v. Unless they specifically indicate otherwise, instructors expect individual, unaided work on
homework assignments, exams, lab reports and computer exercises, and documentation of
sources when used. If instructors assign a special project other than or in addition to exams,
such as a research paper, or original essay or a book review, they intend that work to be
completed for that course only. Students must not submit work completed for a course
taken in the past or for a concurrent course unless they have explicit permission to do so
from both faculty members.

Any academic misconduct will automatically result in a failing grade for the class and the
student will be reported to the committee on academic misconduct for further disciplinary
action.

4. Attendance: As far as I am concerned, you are an adult and it is your decision whether or not you
attend class. However, your decision not to attend a class may have negative consequences for your
class grade. (Please consult PGP Participants’ Handbook for this purpose).
If you decide to attend a class, you must come to the class and take your seat sufficiently before the
beginning of the class time. Under no circumstances you would be allowed in once the class has
started. You are expected to sit through the class unless you have a prior permission from the
instructor to leave the classroom before the end of the class.
5. Late submission: Any late submission beyond the deadline will result in no point. Except in case
of emergencies, with a doctor's note, any questions about late submission will not be entertained.
6. Missed exam: There is no make-up for the missed exams unless the student has discussed and
made an arrangement with the instructor for a valid reason beforehand. In all other instances, the
student must produce a valid doctor's note for the day the student missed the exam. Such doctor's
note must be produced in the same week the student missed the exam.
7. Grade Discussion: It is the student’s responsibility to monitor his or her own grades and raise any
questions s/he may have within one week of the grades assigned.

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 8. Extra Credit: No Extra credit shall be given to make-up for missed quizzes, assignments, exams,
project, or poor performance in the course.

Learning Accommodations
To provide equal access to the educational programs and opportunities, IIM Kashipur is dedicated to
providing appropriate accommodations to students with documented disabilities such as attention deficit-
hyperactivity disorders, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, and psychiatric disorders in order to
help them achieve their academic and personal potential. These academic accommodations are provided to
students at no cost.

Inclusivity Statement
IIM Kashipur believes that diversity and inclusiveness are essential to excellence in education and
innovation. Our community represents a rich variety of backgrounds, experiences, demographics, and
perspectives. IIM Kashipur is committed to fostering a learning environment where every individual is
respected and engaged. To facilitate a dynamic and inclusive educational experience, we ask all members
of our community to:
• be open to the perspectives of others
• appreciate the uniqueness of their colleagues
• take advantage of the opportunities to learn from each other
• exchange experiences, values, and beliefs
• communicate in a respectful manner
• be aware of the individuals who are marginalized and involve them
• keep confidential discussions private

Profile
Here are a few details of Venkatesh Krishnamurthy (www.linkedin.com/in/kvenkatesh)

1. Co-founder of Fee Plaza LLP, a FinTech company

2. Director of Collaborative Infotech Systems Private Limited
3. Former employee of Yahoo!, Adobe, Aventail, Wipro, Infosys, C-DAC, in the reverse
chronological order
4. Visiting Faculty – Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur, "E-Business and E-Commerce"
course 2017
5. Visiting Faculty – Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, "E-Business and E-Commerce" course
2015, 2016
6. Visiting Faculty, Indian Institute of Management Shillong: taught "Marketing of Information
Technology" (2013 - 2016), Information Technology Product Engineering Management (2014,
2016) and "Global Information Technology Business" (2015)
7. Visiting Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management Indore (Indore, Mumbai and Dubai
campuses): taught "Marketing of Information Technology" (2013 - 2015), "Global Information
Technology Business" (2013-15) and "Building Business Proposals" (2014), "E-Business & E-
Commerce (2015-16, 2016-17) courses
8. Visiting Faculty – Indian Institute of Management, Trichy, "E-Business and E-Commerce" course
2015-16, 2018

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9. Visiting Faculty at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, India: taught
"Marketing and Strategy" course (2012-2014)
10. Visiting Faculty, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow: co-taught "Managing the Business of
Software Products and Services" (2011 - 2013)
11. Guest Faculty, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore: taught "Marketing of Information
Technology" course (2003 - 2009)
12. Guest Faculty, Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai, India: taught "Marketing of
Information Technology" course (2011 - 2013)
13. Guest Faculty, PC College of Engineering, Goa, India: taught "E-commerce Business Models"
course (2004)
14. Guest Lectures at Asian Institute of Technology Extension Thailand (2017), The University of
Michigan Law School (by video conference, 2006, 2011), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
(2008), Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (2010), Thiagarajar School of Management
(2010) and LP University (by video conference, 2009), IIM Kashipur (Feb 2018)
15. Speaker, TWIN Conference (2012) and Panelist, Society for Technical Communication Conference
(2009)
16. External examiner for Finance and Marketing projects of PGP and PGSEM students at IIM
Bangalore
17. Author of the book "Create Profitable Products", ISBN 9789352127832 (e-book), ISBN
9789352127825 (paperback)
18. Author of the book "Marketing of Information Technology", ISBN 9780070248724 (paperback),
ISBN 9780070152939
19. Authoring the third book “A Comprehensive Guide to E-Commerce", ISBN 9789352685998