Product Management 101: Difference between the Product Manager and Project Manager

Understanding the difference between the two vital roles

Product Management and Project Management — the two key roles which may be mixed up in certain companies. Although both are managerial roles and have an overlapping skill set, the responsibilities for both roles differ.

Product Manager

A Product Manager is responsible for a product- the vision, strategy, product roadmap and so on. In simple terms, they are responsible for a product’s success- which is defined by a set of KPI’s or metrics. So to reach the metrics goals, they generally don’t have a defined path. They can experiment with various options like user research, A/B testing, redesigning the process and so on. They also need to be on the constant lookout for the product performance, feedback, competition and make decisions which will keep the product relevant in the market. To get all this done, they have to act as a connection hub for engineering, design, operations, sales, finance. marketing, and more.

Product Manager is responsible for what gets built and why it is being built

For example, for an e-commerce website, the goal is to reduce the cart abandonment rate by x%, then you as a product manager would work with the required teams do any of the following to achieve it

• Try to understand the customers feedback and do research
• In case of slow page load, work with the engineering team to reduce the page load times
• Redesign the check out process with the design team to reduce the number of clicks
• Provide the option to check out as a guest user
• Work with the finance and legal team to provide alternative payment options

As you can see a Product Manager has to analyse the reason for cart abandonment rate and may need to experiment to find the right solution.

Project Manager

A Project Manager is responsible for a project and not a goal. A project usually has a timeline, a budget, limited resources and the scope. For a project to be successful, the project should meet all the requirements within schedule and budget. Thus a project manager is required to track and manage resources and execution to ensure that the timelines and objectives are met. A Project manager will break down the strategic objectives into initiatives and get it into execution mode. A project manager will act as an organizer and execution enabler.

A Project Manager is responsible for how and when an application will be built.

For example for an e-commerce website, based on the strategic guidance from the Product Manager, a new project with the aim of achieving the goal to reduce cart abandonment rate would be assigned to a Project Manager. So as a project manager, you would be asked to implement a new check out process for the consumers with a stipulated time, budget and using your team members. You would then work on the timelines, budget and resources and figure out the best way to execute your project with your team.

Common skills

There soft skills required to succeed are similar — listening, communicating, leadership and problem-solving.

Both the PM’s need to know the skills of Project management to ensure that execution takes place. However, the roles are different and yet complement each other. From strategy to execution of a product you need both the Product Manager and the Project Manager.