Project Management vs Product Management

This topic is vastly debated around different businesses and communities. These two roles are often confused and combined in many ways, and it is important to know that both roles have separate responsibilities within an organisation. In this article I want to try and highlight my opinion of the two roles and how they differ.

So, what is the difference between a project manager and product manager? I would quite like to break it up into three areas: definition of the role, overview of the role and some key roles and responsibilities.

Product Management

Definition of a product manager according to Wikipedia:

A product manager is a professional role that is responsible for the development of products for an organisation, known as the practice of product management. Product managers own the product strategy behind a product, specify its functional requirements, and manage feature releases.

Overview of a product manager:

For me there is a specific difference between a Wikipedia defined or role for a product manager, to the reality of what product managers actually take on day to day. The truth, in my opinion, is that product managers wear many hats and, in most cases, do perform some sort of project management in their role. This is more of a skill needed rather than a specific job title. Most product managers will have some level of responsibility in contributing towards the strategy and direction of the organisation. Depending on your personal goals as a product manager you have multiple options to go down for your career path, if you focus more on the managerial track, then you will have a more in depth understanding and much larger contribution towards strategy. Product managers also work collaboratively with all stakeholders and in particular with R & D. A critical part of the product management role is DISCOVERY, product managers must have the ability to understand problems and empathise with customers.

Roles and Responsibilities

• - Identify and understand customer problems and desirables through robust discovery
• - Research competitor information
• - A good industry knowledge
• - Drive the product strategy and align with business goals and vision
• - Collaborate and maintain open communication with all stakeholders around the organisation
• - Deliver value to the experience of the end user
• - Define a release plan and GTM execution working with the right stakeholders
• - Determine success metrics and lessons learned

Project Management

Definition of a project manager according to Wikipedia:

Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope, time, and budget.

Overview of a project manager:

I agree with the concept of project managers overseeing the execution of the development plans, but not in all cases. Project managers can also have the responsibility to oversee the implementation of a product/service set up for a client before it reaches the account managers, in most cases at least. They can act as a very capable in-between from sales to accounts and ensure the planned “project” runs smoothly and are on hand to tackle any blockers. In some cases, it is highly important to maintain documentation and align to time restraints for project deliverables. Project managers also hold some level of financial responsibility for budgeting.

Roles & Responsibilities

• - Plan the key project milestones
• - Define and lead the team members involved in the project
• - Monitor Project Progress and Set Deadlines
• - Find ways to solve blockers that arise
• - Ensure stakeholder satisfaction
• - Manage the budgets
• - Evaluate the overall performance and success of the project  

With all the above in mind it is important to understand how a product manager and project manager can work together and align within an organisation. Both types of people have different roles, as we have looked at above, however between these roles and responsibilities are some extremely useful skills. Firstly, it is important to be able to identify at the start of any “project” each person’s responsibility. For this I often use the RACI method (Responsible, Accountable, Consult and Inform). This is not actually just relevant for the two people or persons; it is a good way to align all stakeholders. As long as there is clear communication between the people then problems and blockers can be solved together. In my opinion it is the product manager who will lead from a strategic and directive perspective as they hold the main bulk of the responsibility. In short, I believe they are the lead for specific deliverables.

I touched a little bit on potential career paths for a product manager, but I would like to dive a little deeper on the options available. Product Managers are not often associated with hierarchical promotion but more often measure on the difficulty of the problem space, strategy implementation they work on. There is the option to progress in some companies from associate to product manager to senior product manager then to Head of Product and so on to Director, CPO level. The one caution you should take in this track is that the higher you go the further you move from being able to perform product management. There is also an individual contributor path which focuses on more challenging, high profile problem areas and in some cases innovations – although innovation should be strived for in everything you want to achieve.

So how does this differ from a project management career path? I am not too familiar with the opportunities open to project managers, so I had to do a little bit of research to understand the possibilities. From what I understand there is a hierarchical promotion track which starts from project coordination/administration and can lead all the way up to project director. You can also be responsible for budding project managers and follow the managerial and coaching track as you advance in your career. As you progress you have the opportunity to be more involved in budget and impact organisational transformations.

Another key question is to understand what types of certifications you can develop in the product manager and project manager role. I find that you should always take great pride in your own personal development, and always allocate time within your working hours to grow as an individual. There are common certifications associated with both professions like Product Management 101 and Project Management Professional certifications. My recommendation would be to look at where you want to be in 5 years’ time and research why types of certifications are available to help you reach your career goals.

As I look at wrapping up this post around the key differences, I wanted to address some of the common FAQs around this topic.

• - Which is better: Project manager or product manager? I think this is a question that can only truly be answered by understanding what you want out of your career and what you enjoy about a job role. Generally, product managers earn more on average, but salary should not be the sole reason for deciding on one role over another.
• - Can a product manager be a project manager?  In short, yes, many product managers have a good grasp on some of the skills required in project management.
• - Is the PM product manager or project manager? I love AHA’s answer to this question, so I am going to use their answer - “PM” is a confusing abbreviation. It can refer to (at least) three distinct roles: the Product Manager, the Project Manager, and the Program Manager. These roles all have different histories and slightly different responsibilities
• - Who earns more as a project manager or product manager? As I mentioned above, generally a product manager earns more based on average salaries than a project manager.

I actually enjoyed researching and writing this particular blog and feel like it could spin off into a much larger discussion. I hope that this provided a good understanding of the project management and product manager job roles.

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