The Difference between Product Management and Project Management (using my personal experience)

The Ultimate guide to Product Manager vs Project Manager.

Alexa play Let Me Explain by Bryson Tiller.

Happy Tuesday Techiez!

I know, I know, me too, I was equally surprised when I learnt that there is a difference between product management and project management.

So lets cut to it. What is the difference and who cares?

As a Product Manager myself, I started out as an IC (Individual Contributer), which is a term used in tech to describe someone who primarily works alone on a vast role scope.

Leveraging on Individual Contributors is a common practice in startups as a result of limited resources and a goal for feasibility and sustainability.

My role was defined as a Project Manager, but centered on both Product and Project management responsibilities.

So lets define these roles shall we?

A Product Manager simply drives the development of a product.

The Product manager is responsible for the technical direction pegged along the development team, the customers and the product itself.

Product managers are expected to have more technical knowledge on product building processes including; creating the product roadmap, requirements and executing agile methods to build and test the MVP hand in hand with the development team.

More importantly, they are expected to engage with customers to understand their pain points and user experiences to make feasible decisions on the product direction.

From my personal experience this meant;

• How can we build an intuitive platform efficiently? An overview of the platform I built is here;

• How is the customer experience and how can we continously improve the platform to meet the customer needs?

Through onboarding, training and customer surveys, we were able to understand their needs in relation to our platform and iterate accordingly.

If you would like to know more about product management, a good and fun start would be the book below.

NB: This is not an affiliate link

A Project Manager oversees the execution of time bound initiatives.

The Project Manager is responsible for functional direction in regards to timelines, resources and relevant stakeholders for project execution.

A project I led involved running a training program that took place on the platform we built in collaboration with the NGO ; Her Initiative.

Here is an overview of the project;

My role for this project entailed tactifully executing the deliverables for the success of the project within a specific time frame on a set budget.

It is important to note that the two roles lean on similar soft skills; Organisation skills, Stakeholder Management, Leadership management and Communication.

Why does all this matter?

Simple.

• To hire the right talent.
• To have clarity on your role and therefore strategically upskill.

Can I perform both roles?

The simple answer is yes.

But, there's a catch.

You learn wide, but not deep.

You are more than likely going to burn out (regularly). A two man role is no small feat.

This aggregated approach diminishes the level of skill and focus set on each facet of the work.

This in turn works against the very resourcefulness being sought after by the organization.

It is for this reason that most software companies are encouraged to start off with a product centered manager and grow into more scopes for the role.

That's it for today,

Alexa queue Its A Wrap by Mary J Blige

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