Skip to main content

PPMC specialization

The Program/Product Management & Consulting (PPMC) specialization equips you with the knowledge and skills to transform your team and drive efficiency and growth through innovative and strategic initiatives.

Request program information

Our enrollment coaches can help you determine if MSIM is right for you. Your coach can also support you as you apply and enroll.

By submitting this form, I agree to be contacted via email, phone or text to learn more about the programs at the University of Washington.
Home / MSIM Online / PPMC Specialization

PPMC specialization overview

This specialization prepares current and aspiring program and product managers and consultants to lead organizations of all sizes and sectors in developing and managing strategic and operational information-related initiatives.

MSIM students can complete the Program/Product Management & Consulting (PPMC) specialization across any of the three degree tracks offered: Early-Career, Early-Career Accelerated, and Mid-Career. Compare our degree tracks to find the path best suited for you.

Skills developed:

Transform organizations through systematic problem-solving and change management by engaging stakeholders to align on new techniques and initiatives.

Apply industry methods and techniques to analyze and design enterprise systems to organize, plan, control, and implement projects while developing product and project value propositions and success metrics.

Lead product management teams throughout the product lifecycle while facilitating cross-organizational integration and strategic alignment.

Elective courses in the PPMC specialization

This specialization consists of three courses that will help you hone your skills across a range of consulting practices, and program, product and project management practices. These skills will serve you at boutique consulting firms and enterprise-level organizations. 

Learn more about the core, elective and Capstone/practicum courses in the UW MSIM curriculum and the career options available to MSIM graduates. 

Uses Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) as a methodology for addressing complex enterprise information systems problems. Through each phase of SDLC, students engage in current and future state analysis and design activities, including project identification, selection and initiation, baseline project planning, feasibility and risk analysis, requirements gathering and structuring, system development, implementation, and maintenance strategies.

Provides overview of skills, practices, and concepts foundational to a career in information management consulting. Topics include consulting concepts, methodologies, approaches to consultative analysis and problem solving, effective technical and interpersonal consulting behaviors, and program management in a consulting environment. Emphasizes interpersonal/communication skills, client relationship management, and change management. Prerequisite: IMT 580.

Introduces project management principles within information-related business contexts. Provides knowledge that managers need to implement information systems on time and within budget. Concentrates on methods and issues in organizing, planning, and controlling projects and their use of computer-based project management tools.

Job titles reported by recent MSIM graduates

  • Business process analyst
  • Information consultant
  • Information management specialist
  • Product manager
  • Professional services consultant
  • Project manager
  • Technical program manager

Watch: Where can an MSIM degree take you?

“I found that by the time I began my Capstone project, I was ready to brainstorm, plan, execute and iterate with my team extremely effectively, and I thank the PPMC courses I took for appropriately preparing me for that experience.” 

Kenny Garrison, ‘22

Hear from one of our PPMC students

PPMC industry stats

$105,300

is the median advertised salary for PPMC jobs requiring a master’s.

422,500

PPMC-related job-postings.

+12.8%

is the projected growth rate for PPMC occupations over the next decade.

Source: Lightcast Occupations and Job Postings, April 2022 to March 2023.

Alumni spotlight

Meet Kenny Garrison, a ‘22 MSIM alum who pursued the Early-Career degree track as a residential student specializing in PPMC and BI. Learn how the Program/Product Management & Consulting specialization, in particular, helped his career as an active-duty officer in the United States Navy.

“The diversity amongst students in the MSIM program gave me a window into how other organizations operate, gave me incredible insights into how I could be a better leader in the Navy, and highlighted several ways in which the Navy could improve.”

“The projects and assignments in the PPMC track are designed to simulate real-world Program/Product Management & Consulting scenarios. This type of immersive learning with direct feedback from experts in the field was an extremely rewarding experience that really provides students with tangible and actionable insights they can take directly to the organizations they are working for.”

“I have made a tremendous amount of connections during my time at UW, and I know that I will continue to engage with and learn from my classmates as I move forward in my career.”

Scheduled events

Check back soon for more upcoming events.

Request program information

Our enrollment coaches can help you determine if MSIM is right for you. Your coach can also support you as you apply and enroll.

By submitting this form, I agree to be contacted via email, phone or text to learn more about the programs at the University of Washington.

Featured articles

A student writes in a notebook next to an open laptop.
August 1, 2022
Information is an increasingly important and indispensable asset, and it’s not hyperbole to say that information is the lifeblood of organizations.
An information manager prepares a presentation on a laptop.
April 30, 2021
Data and analytics are transforming industries, creating dramatic changes that demand strategic responses.
A business intelligence analyst works on a tablet.
April 19, 2021
As a business grows, the more its data — sitting in unknown and unseen digital spaces — can reveal about its customers, market share and efficiency.
A data analyst sits at a desk working on their computer.
April 19, 2021
The field of information management grows more important by the moment. Data expands continually — and with it, the potential to gain valuable insights.