A manufacturing company has its main objective to create a product. A project manager ensures that the task at hand is completed on time and within budget. The difference between the two departments is often confusing because of the similar terminology.
The difference between product and project management lies in achieving the results. For example, a product team creates a product while a project team solves a problem. In most cases, project management is managed by a project manager while the product owner handles product management.
A business can attain competitive advantages by merging both product and project management. Integrating both departments eliminates the company’s blind spots and ensures more effective results.
What do researchers mean when they talk about project management?
Project management is a lot of things to many people. Depending on the context, it can be a way to streamline work, a methodology for delivering certain types of projects, or a set of skills that allow an organization to get more out of its people and resources. This is why one of the most common questions that PM professionals face is, “What’s the difference between product management and project management?”
It’s an important question because each discipline has its unique responsibilities. Product and project management are vital components of any organization’s ability to get stuff done. While they both touch on similar themes, they occupy different areas of responsibility. For more information click here
Project Management vs. Product Management: Is It OK to Use One for the Other?
A project manager and a product manager have similar aims and objectives, but their roles are significantly different. When used in parallel, the confusion can be seen in low productivity, inconsistent delivery, and transparency.
Product Management vs. Project Management: What is the difference?
Product and Project Management are two different functions but are also related in many ways. The key differences between product management and project management are the intention of the two and the time frame involved.
- Product management focuses on quality, cost, and shipping to the customer. It is a forward-looking function concerned about the quality of products, services, or programs like what TCGen, a product management consultant does. On the other hand, project management focuses on managing individual projects to deliver a quality product within a certain time frame. Normally, these projects are one-time activities. However, there are some cases where the same project gets executed again but with a new objective. In these cases, project managers will then transform/her role into product manager.
- Projects typically have a short life span, and deliverables can include documents, prototypes, presentations, and celebrations. Products are usually long-lasting and will carry over from one release to another. They may include tangible goods, software, services, and information. Project goals are normally time-bound, for example: “To complete the design of the prototype by the end of January.” Product goals tend to be feature-based, for example: “To relieve customer pain points by redesigning our application to be smartphone compatible.”
- It is not possible to serve both these roles simultaneously. Product managers are responsible for generating ideas, planning the products (s)he wants to manage, generating various product roadmaps, and deciding who will be responsible for certain functions. In short, it entails everything related to generating a product that can be executed and delivered to the customer.
Wrapping up
No matter how different the two may sound, they are some of the most important roles in an organization. While the roles are different, they share common aspects, such as building and delivering products and driving their successful production. However, even though they both serve similar objectives, their similarities end there. While a project manager is interested in the timeline and budget of a project, a product manager oversees the actual product. In short, a project manager has a more generic outlook and is focused on completing tasks on time and with limited resources. On the other hand, a product manager maintains a hands-on approach, overseeing how resources and timelines affect the growth of the business while also taking into account market trends.
The difference between project management and product management is best explained by Eric Verzuh, author of The Pocket MBA in Project Management:
“Product managers focus on the business value being delivered in terms of features and functionality of a product or service to end-users; project managers focus on value to the client who is paying for it.”
