The Business of Learning The Business of Learning, Episode 93: Applying Product Management Principles to Your L&D Strategy
Jan 29, 2026
Rashi Kakkar, McKinsey leader in leadership and development who brings product management thinking to L&D. She reframes learning as a bundle of value and contrasts product versus project mindsets. She discusses continuous discovery, dogfooding and tying learning to business metrics. She urges roadmap prioritization, stakeholder alignment, and shifting from order taker to strategic partner.
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Learning As A Product
- A product is a bundle of value that solves customer needs and maps directly to L&D services.
- Viewing people as products positions L&D as strategic drivers of business growth, not background support.
Do Continuous Discovery
- Do practice continuous discovery by regularly checking learner needs instead of one-off requirements gathering.
- Own outcomes: launch, measure impact, and iterate rather than moving on after delivery.
Product vs Project Mindset
- Project thinking treats training as finite; product thinking treats learning as ongoing and iterative.
- That shift changes L&D from order taker to owner of long-term capability outcomes.