These are some of the most confusing words in the project management field. But both of them are vital for a company’s growth. Even though they might overlap in terms of certain skills, such as leadership and time management, they’re two sides of the same coin.
Product Manager
The product manager is responsible for leading the team to deliver the end product. They’re responsible for the strategy, the product, roadmap as well as the feature definition of the product. There is also a separate product lifecycle for delivering that product that the product manager is responsible for managing. They also are responsible for leading the product team. The product manager also can work directly with the project manager as well as the customer and the product team.
Some of the skills to become a good product manager are, he should comfortable with chaos, he should have the ability to ask the right question to the right stakeholder to reach a good solution and should have a problem-solving attitude.
Product Manager’s Functions
1. Does user research |
2. Setting product vision |
3. Communicating vision to stakeholders |
4. Developing a strategic plan |
5. Creating and maintaining the product roadmap |
6. Overseeing and driving the development |
Project Manager
The project manager is responsible for leading the team to deliver a successful project. They’re responsible for the strategy and the process flow of the project. They’re also responsible for the project plan as well as the requirements for the project and there is a separate project lifecycle that the project manager is responsible for managing and they also have an entire project team that they are responsible for leading. So the project manager can work directly with the product manager. They can also work directly with the customer and the project team as well as the product team. The Project Manager has to also take care of the quality of the implementation and execute the plan within the budget.
Some of the skills to become a good product manager are, he should be who is methodical, a great planner, and execution-focused.
Project Manager’s Functions
1. Breaking down large initiatives into tasks |
2. Planning project timelines and budgeting |
3. Allocating project resources |
4. Monitoring and tracking task completion |
5. Communicating progress to stakeholders |
6. Ensuring project completion in a set timeframe |
Area of Potential Conflict
There are a couple of areas of conflict that can arise. First of all who owns the product roadmap? You would suspect that the product manager wants to own that but sometimes the project manager does as well. You have to determine who owns and who is responsible for the product roadmap. Then the question arises of who gets to talk to the product team or the customer.