Digital Product Development for Sustaina

In April 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that warming of the planet is likely to exceed COP targets.  This finding underscores the urgency around decarbonizing the economy and sustainably managing natural resources.  A so-called “big, hairy, audacious goal,” it requires that similarly ambitious solutions be implemented across countries and industries.  This course will introduce students to digital product management skills and the critical role they play in building digital decision support tools related to healing our planet. 

It is only by measuring resources that stakeholders can manage them and ensure that they are available in sufficient quantities for future generations. Web tools provide up-to-date analyses of aggregated data; distill complex issues into accessible visualizations; enable users to drill down to answer questions; offer insights into complicated and interdependent issues; and display changes in performance over time. 

Efforts are underway -- locally, regionally, nationally and internationally -- to address climate and ESG issues and many more need to appear on drawing boards.  Opportunities include: 

·2,400 megawatts of offshore wind, enough to provide electricity to 1 million homes, are slated to be installed off the coast of New York State by 2030;

·Globally, companies need to evaluate opportunities to deploy renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in their facilities in order to reduce carbon emissions and costs; 

·Coastal cities are studying their exposure to sea-level rise so they can harden electricity infrastructure and avoid blackouts caused by more frequent storms; and 

·Indigenous populations and local governments in the Amazon wish to protect the jungles that act as global carbon sinks and generate revenue opportunities from carbon credits.

This elective course is about product strategy and how to design, build and launch new digital products and features in the AI era.  It will introduce students to the digital product management role and product lifecycle and provide an opportunity to design a digital app and define the business case for it.  Units will address how to define a product vision; identify a product strategy; define a valuable customer experience; enable data-driven decisions; collaborate with developers and responsibly use AI; create product roadmaps; manage for successful f