A Product Manager’s work lasts the entire lifecycle of the project. It begins before the product is created and spans the entire lifetime of the product. Iterations are constantly being made and new issues could arise for which the product might need to evolve to solve the customer’s pain points thus, the constant need for a Product Manager. 

Product Management is all about the vision. Using a Product Roadmap and relying on Agile methodology, Product Managers will take their understanding of stakeholder requirements, translate them into design goals and coordinate with the team to see that the development is aligned with these goals. It is this vision that determines which project to undertake next. 

On the other hand, Project Managers take on a product vision, digest the vision and break it down into tasks allocating timelines and resources, monitoring completion and reporting progress to stakeholders. Projects have established beginnings and endings, unlike products. Project managers are usually required to be detail-oriented with great organisational and leadership skills who use specific Project Management methodologies such as Waterfall methodology and software to track the progress of what they’re working on.

In varying capacities, both the Product Manager and the Project Manager are working on the Product. Let’s see what that looks like in a scenario. Say, a company sells jewelry. They want to create an app that allows customers to shop various collections of the brand from their phones. They would hire a Product Manager to define the goals of the app, decide on the target market, work with the developers and the designers as they create the app and also monitor any matters that arise.

If they decide that the app should include a feature that allows customers customize their chosen piece of jewelry and simulate how the jewelry would look on them, the company will then hire a Project Manager to roll out these specific features. The Project Manager will work with a team to deliver this feature, creating a timeline and a budget and handling the day to day affairs with regard to the feature, likely reporting to the Product Manager every once in a while with updates. When that feature is completed, the work of the Project Manager is done.

In the bigger picture, Project Management can sometimes be featured as an aspect of Product Management, particularly at the execution stage of the project where the Project Manager has to work with designers and developers as well as other necessary roles on Product delivery.

At smaller companies, it is not unusual to find one person carrying out both roles and that’s feasible because the scale is smaller and the workload won’t be insurmountable. However, ideally, all companies need different people and sometimes multiple people to take on both these roles to ensure that the highest quality of work is delivered.

Ultimately, Product Management is nebulous and a large part of learning what it entails involves working in the role. At the core of it, you’re working with developers to come up with a strategy and with designers to decide what everything looks like and generally just doing whatever it takes to get the job done. 

Want to explore what that could look like and whether you’re a fit for a Product Management or Project Management role? Visit our website for more information about our online product management training courses.