Module 0: Getting Set Up
Your on-ramp and your safety net. No product work yet.
Why and when
Section titled “Why and when”Ten minutes of orientation here saves hours of confusion later. You’re about to spend the whole course inside Claude Desktop, and you’ll use claude.ai and eventually Claude Code alongside it at work. Knowing which surface you’re in, and having a home base to retreat to, is what makes every later module feel navigable instead of overwhelming. When does this matter in real life? Every time a colleague says “just use AI for that” and you’re not sure where to even start.
What you’ll cover
Section titled “What you’ll cover”- the three Claude surfaces in plain PM English: claude.ai chat, Claude Desktop with Cowork, and Claude Code, and how to tell which one you’re in
- pointing a Cowork session at the course folder
- setting up a home-base Project: your notebook and rescue line whenever you’re outside the classroom
- how lessons work and how to orient in the materials
Where the learning happens
Section titled “Where the learning happens”Not on this page. This site is your map; the classroom is Claude Desktop. Open a Cowork session pointed at the course-materials folder and say: “Take me to Module 0.”
If you’re lost mid-module, paste this into that session, even a brand-new one:
I'm taking the Claude Desktop for Product Managers course and I'm lostsomewhere in Module 0 (Getting set up). Read COMPANION_INSTRUCTIONS.mdand my-progress.md in this folder, tell me where I am, and offer methree ways forward.