Issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within organisations in Aotearoa have been at the forefront of our minds. Delve into how these factors not only affect our teams but also products and services we develop and how we, as practitioners, can make products more equitable, accessible and inclusive.
In this cohort, you will dive into how in product management you can…
Look at your current craft through a lens of different intersections like gender, disability, ethnicity, indigeneity and be challenged on how you approach product management.
Learn how to create products that work for the wider communities, and produce positive business benefits by opening your products to larger user bases.
Learn how to apply concepts of accessibility, inclusion, storytelling culture, co-design and data equity.
Who is this cohort for
This course has been designed for any level of product management and development journey.
Whether you are starting out in your product career or want to develop your career further around inclusive & ethical data practices, leadership, strategy, accessibility, this cohort is for you.
It is not limited to product managers only, this cohort goes through inclusive design, research, analysis, development!
This cohort is for people who understand the importance of DEI work and even though we will be covering some basics related to gender, ethnicity, disabilities, and other intersections, this cohort will help you hone in on your practical product skills in this space.
Meet your instructors
Elina Ashimbayeva
Founder of Storyo, Experience Designer at Auckland DHB, Co-Organizer Women In Tech NZ and your main facilitator of the course
Elina is incredibly passionate about representation, equity, education, system changes & community wellbeing. She has led over 150 interviews on Storyo and over a dozen DEI & Storytelling workshops for corporate teams. She brings her experience as a product manager and design researcher but with a DEI lens to this cohort.
Tanya Johnson
VP of Product at Auror, Co-founder of Women In Tech, and Product Coach
Tanya is an experienced Product leader and an advocate for diversity, equity, and ethics in products. With Tanya, we will learn about data ethics, team leadership, and how to prioritise ethics in product.
Jenny Sahng
Founding team & Data Scientist at Multitudes
Jenny is a data enthusiast who is passionate about equity and climate action. We will be learning about how to think about data ethics and practical ways to mitigate risk when working with data.
Jodi Meadows
Indigenous Innovator and Senior Experience Designer at Ara Manawa
Jodi has spent 8+ years in Design and Art industries and will be sharing her knowledge on indigenous innovation, creative problem solving and co-design approaches.
Equitable Product Program Format
From this cohort you will leave with actual practical takeaways and increased confidence about how to approach DEI in your work; real-world insights to use as reference points; practical tools around product strategies on making your product more accessible and inclusive.
Module 1: Introduction to a DEI lens for product
Benefits, current challenges, examples of inclusive and non-inclusive products and services. Why does this work matter?
Module 2: Let’s deconstruct product management
Deconstruct product management & development as you know it: from defining the product to nurturing a product in market - we will talk about how equitable approach plays into each.
Module 3: Accessibility & inclusion
Module 4: Delving into Data ethics
Learn more about accessibility & inclusion in product - visible and invisible disabilities, language, usability, marketing, images.
Looking at how you collect, analyse, use, and present data to ensure that ethics and equity are baked into your data products.
Module 5: Co-design and innovation practices
Module 6: Building storytelling and culture
A chance to re-imagine what co-design really means and where it might have actually come from if not from Western design models, how to utilise it in product space.
Building storytelling culture, leadership skills and team dynamics as a product practitioner. Why it matters to cultivate the right culture within your product.
Key program details
Start date: 1st August 2022
Format: Online group sessions
Duration: 6 modules over 12 weeks
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm NZT
Size: Max 20 members
Cost: Early bird - $950+GST Includes 1 year COLAB Membership
If you are interested in this cohort as part of your professional development. We can help you with providing more detail for your company if needed.
Contact us: hello@colabcohorts.com
This course can be paid for upfront or in monthly payments. We are happy to discuss flexible payment options as well.
Become a Business Partner of Equitable Product
If your business would like to become a partner of this Equitable Product cohort, you can do so by choosing one of our partnership offers.
We are looking for business partners that want to support the creation of more equitable products and the next Equitable Product cohort.
Core Partnership structure
Placement opportunity for 1-3+ employees to join the cohort
Acknowledge as a core partner on Storyo and Colab social media
Full Colab membership for each employee joining the cohort
Placed as Core Partner business on the cohort landing page
Follow-up Storyo DE&I talk session for wider business employees
Further opportunities to partner on DE&I events or talks
If you would like to participate as a partner of Storyo and Colab’s Equitable Product cohort, please let us know. We would love to hear from you.
Contact us about partnering: hello@colabcohorts.com
Learn better with COLAB and Storyo
Our cohorts are designed to give you a richer learning experience.
Each week of learning in this cohort includes group collaboration, hands-on application, and real-world examples from current product leaders.
Sessions are live workshops with world-class instructors where conversation and engagement are encouraged.
Join a cohort of engaged peers with who you will learn and grow alongside. Helping you create a community that drives your growth and theirs together.
Live instructor-led learning with industry experts.
Application of weekly learnings to real case studies.
Collaborative sessions with other product peers.
Access to curated reading lists and content.
Join the growing COLAB Community platform.
We are helping grow product professionals from top companies.
Thoughts from COLAB and Storyo experiences
"I am re-motivated to not only progress my product career but also to keep trying to influence and make a significant change in my organisation. I am so grateful to everyone in my cohort, but also to our two facilitators who were so generous in their knowledge sharing. They both added so much value and the session structure was on point. I can’t recommend joining a cohort enough, it will be career-changing."
- Lusi Heath, Product Owner @ BNZ
“As a founder, it was so inspiring to hear the different stories shared and was a great reminder of the importance of creating safe and inclusive workplaces. Elina communicates in a positive way that nonetheless challenges our underlying bias and stereotypes. There were so many important ideas from the stories that were shared! Highly recommend taking up the opportunity if your company has the chance to work with Elina and Storyo.” -
- Mike, Brightly
“I love the way story-telling was used. I think it was really refreshing and the Fellows saw something about themselves in you and the stories shared. I really liked the fact you were aware that diversity means different things to different people.”
- Cristabel, Startmate
FAQs
We recommend this cohort if you have influence over the product built within your company and are looking to grow your awareness and knowledge of how to make them equitable and accessible.
At a minimum we do need you to join the two hours per week that we have sessions. We would also recommend putting aside a few more hours to work on any async work and chat with fellow cohort members on what you are learning.
We want to ensure everyone get's an opportunity to participate. Please reach out if you'd like to discuss flexible payment options or scholarships.
Yes, we hold all our sessions online to enable access for people from different geographies. But, we also love to meet in person too (when we can) and organise wider COLAB coffees and drinks regularly that you can join!
We highly recommend that you do attend all of the cohort sessions. Of course, sometimes life comes up and we understand if people need to miss a session!
Want to chat about this cohort or something else? Get in touch at hello@colabcohorts.com or follow us on Linkedin.
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