[第二弹] 产品狗要读硕士，该读什么项目？[Part 2] A Product Dog Wants a Master's: Which Programs?

Part 1 gave you a quick introduction to some programs (well, to their names..), and plenty of programs were still left out. Today, a simple addendum that leaves out HCI and IS programs.

As with a few days ago, the main point is still “letting you know this program exists”; the details are for you to explore on your own~---Also, some readers said the programs mentioned in the last installment are actually all “industrial design” programs, and I feel that deserves a little explanation here. First, I believe design is all connected. Architectural design, Service design, or design in any other form is, in essence, about understanding users and expressing ideas / producing solutions. And the single most important duty of a product manager for a user product is precisely understanding users. So as long as a program’s core philosophy/courses convey the mindset of “understanding users,” I think it satisfies the precondition of “digging deeper into a product manager’s core skills.” If, on the skills side, the program can go on to cultivate participants’ skills in design/business/management/technology, then in both mindset and skill-building it meets my screening criteria. So from this angle, classifying these programs as “industrial design” merely because they chose tangible products rather than virtual ones (products of the digital world, that is) as their subject of study, as their way of deepening the understanding of users, strikes me as not quite fair~

Back to the topic. Here are the programs in this second installment:

CMU Product Management

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/master-science-product-management

A newly opened CMU program; applications are already open for spring 2019. Compared with the programs recommended in Part 1, it leans more toward business. It does touch on a small number of technology-related courses and (even fewer) HCI ones. By comparison, it’s more like an MBA program built on internet-industry skills, teaching product managers how to make decisions better and how to Social better. A good fit for product manager friends who want to recharge and don’t pay all that much attention to design in the first place

• One year, tuition 65k, around 50 people
• At least one year of work experience

CMU Software Management

https://www.cmu.edu/iii/degrees/mssm/

The sister program of Product Management (that’s what the official FAQ says). It gives design more ink than MSPM does, but it’s still very technical. It emphasizes product innovation. It’s at CMU’s Silicon Valley campus, so job hunting should be fairly convenient. But the Silicon Valley campus is just one small building, so those of you with a campus complex…

• 12 or 16 months; you can also do it Part-time, over 2 years
• The 12-month option runs 69k in tuition

*One more word about CMU… First, CMU has something like ten thousand master’s programs.. Other programs such as MSTV/MSIS or even MHCI (I’ll get to the HCI-versus-IS choice later) also feel workable as continuing education for product managers; look into them yourselves. Second, as a CS powerhouse, CMU’s coding atmosphere is just so~ thick! Friends, please think your career plans through, and don’t drift muddle-headedly into switching to code, hahaha…

IIT Master of Design + MBA

https://www.id.iit.edu/master-of-design-mba/

IIT’s MDes+MBA program put this image on its homepage to introduce itself, and I think it already sums up the program’s goal and spirit. Image copyright belongs to IIT. The program leans toward strategy and consulting, stressing user research, stressing methodology, stressing the union of design and business. Course selection is very free; only about 20% of courses are required, so students in the program can shape it into exactly what they want it to be..

• 2 years, four semesters, roughly 120k bucks; the value for money actually looks slightly low
• No design background required
• A portfolio is required at application time

USC Design@USC

https://design.usc.edu/

An Online program (meaning you only need to study on the internet.. given the neighborhood around USC.. it does help safeguard your personal safety). The program takes design as its foundation and extends toward business and engineering. The core courses feel a bit like an MBA combined with user research, and the required courses split into three tracks: design, business, and technology. Judging by the course descriptions and structure, the depth is relatively shallow.

• 18 months, tuition 68k
• Apply early and they’ll waive the application fee for you

SVA MFA Products of Design

http://www.sva.edu/graduate/mfa-products-of-design

SVA MFA Design for Social Innovation

http://www.sva.edu/graduate/mfa-design-for-social-innovation

Two especially cool programs. Both have plenty of design/business courses. Design methods, user research methods, leadership: not one is missing. I know very little about SVA, so take this merely as a brick tossed out to invite jade.

• Both programs are 2 years, tuition basically 100k bucks

---One last question remains: should product managers study HCI or Information Science to recharge? That we’ll save for next time~