Product Manager Capstone

The idea: Knowledge becomes skill only when you do the work. In the capstone you pick one product at the start and carry it through the entire PM workflow, producing the real artifacts a Product Manager makes. By the end you'll have a portfolio that proves — to yourself and to employers — that you can actually do the job, not just describe it.

How it works: Each deliverable unlocks after the syllabus topic that teaches its skill. You produce the artifact (a template is provided), submit it, and the app's AI reviews it against a rubric, gives you specific feedback, and lets you revise until it's solid. Finished deliverables assemble into your portfolio.

Choose your product (do this first)

Pick a real product you know and use — ideally one with an obvious problem you'd love to fix (a budgeting app, a food-delivery app, a fitness tracker, a scheduling tool…). You'll use this same product for every deliverable, so choose something you find interesting and can reason about. Avoid giant, everything-apps; a focused product is easier to do well.

The deliverables (your capstone arc)

#	Deliverable	Unlocks after	The skill it proves
1	Discovery summary	Topic 5 (Discovery)	Finding a real problem worth solving
2	Roadmap (Now/Next/Later)	Topic 6 (Prioritization)	Prioritizing and communicating a plan
3	PRD / spec	Topic 7 (Specs & stories)	Turning an idea into buildable work
4	Metrics framework	Topic 9 (Metrics)	Defining success and a North Star
5	Experiment design	Topic 10 (Experimentation)	Proving what works with an A/B test
6	Go-to-market plan	Topic 11 (Go-to-market)	Launching to real users

Each builds on the last: discovery feeds the roadmap, which feeds the PRD, which you measure (metrics), test (experiment), and launch (GTM). Together they tell one coherent product story about your chosen product.

What "done" looks like

A complete capstone is six artifacts about one product, each passing its rubric, assembled into a portfolio you can link from your resume and walk through in interviews (this is exactly the portfolio Topic 14 tells you to build). When you reach the interview prep and the program schedule, you'll practice presenting these artifacts the way you would to a hiring manager.

Tips

• Keep it real and specific. "Add notifications" is weak; "remind lapsed users about unfinished budgets, to improve week-2 retention" is a PM thinking.
• Reuse your earlier work. Your discovery insight should visibly drive your roadmap, PRD, and metrics — graders (and employers) love a coherent thread.
• Use the templates in ../templates/ as starting points, and revise based on the AI feedback rather than aiming for perfect on the first try (that's the whole loop).