Product Versus Project Management: What's the Difference?

Product management and project management are two distinct responsibilities in a business. Product Management is concerned with the planning, forecasting, and marketing of a product throughout its lifecycle, whereas Project Management is concerned with the use of procedures and processes to meet the objectives of a specific project within a set scope, timeline, and budget.

While Product Managers supervise a product's overall success and prioritize features based on customer needs, Project Managers are responsible for overseeing successful projects from start to finish, ensuring they are completed on time and within budget.

Differentiating these tasks is critical for properly allocating resources and meeting project deadlines.

Projects Vs. Product

Project Management and Product Management complement each other but are distinct. This is probably why the debate between Product Managers and Project Managers continues.

To fully understand these differences, it is important to understand what a project and a product are.

A product is anything that can satisfy a need or want or solve a problem. A product's life cycle is made up of several stages.

The product cycle begins with conception, followed by development, introduction, and management on the market, and, finally, retirement when its need diminishes. A product team develops most products.

A project is a temporary undertaking to create an original product or service. A project has a defined scope of work that must be completed by a certain date.

Project teams typically carry out projects, as in the previous point. Note that multiple projects may occur during the lifecycle of a single product. With a product, there is no clear definition of the deliverables.

Over time, customer needs change, and so do products. Project and product managers must be aware of this. There are no deadlines for products.

Product managers have to be flexible. Customers expect a product that meets their needs now and not in the distant future. Product development is, therefore, not a one-time or temporary endeavor.

It is continuously delivering new features and improving a product to meet changing user requirements.

Definition Of Product Management And Project Management

Product Management is a function of an organization that focuses on the planning, forecasting, and marketing or production of a product at any stage of its life cycle.

Project Management is the application of methods, processes, knowledge, skills, and experience to achieve the goals of a project.

It is important to distinguish between these two functions and Program Management. As their name suggests, program managers oversee programs. However, this topic goes well beyond this article's scope.

What Is A Product Manager (PM)?

Successful product managers are accountable for overseeing the overall success of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from concept development through commercialisation.

For this, product managers need skills such as time and problem-management as well as concentration on specific areas.

Product Managers' primary task is to devise product strategy and conduct market research. Their emphasis should lie more on "what" rather than "how," meaning they take an encompassing view to determine how their product should develop in response to customer demand and determine its future growth trajectory based on customer requirements.

Their ultimate aim should be maximizing value creation while opening new revenue channels - among many responsibilities these individuals hold are as follows.

• Prioritization and collection of product and customer requirements.
• Define the product vision.
• Work closely with Sales and Marketing teams to achieve revenue and customer satisfaction goals.

What Is A Project Manager?

Project managers are accountable for managing successful projects within an agreed-upon schedule and budget, from start to completion.

In an ideal scenario, projects should have defined beginning and ending points as well as follow a clearly laid-out roadmap. Project Managers oversee product development by overseeing resources as well as risks/issues until completion is reached.

Project managers face one of their toughest challenges when overseeing projects: overseeing scope. In doing so, they must strike an ideal balance among three elements - time, cost, and quality - when dealing with tight timelines for a project; increasing costs or decreasing scope may become necessary to maintain quality as deadlines get shortened down accordingly.

Their ultimate aim should be to maximize quality while decreasing risks - here are their responsibilities:

• Assemble new features into existing products when developing products.
• Establish new versions or expansions to existing products.
• Tracking the work of an integrated design-and-development team.
• Maintain a project on time and within its budget while offering transparency to clients.
• Utilizing various tools, these professionals take on various assignments.

Typically, this role requires certification by industry-wide bodies. This may include Scrum-related certifications or those given by the Project Management Institute.

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Understanding The Dynamic Between Project Managers And Products

A project manager is similar to a midwife. This person is responsible for completing the project before moving on to the next.

The person in this role takes care of the product until it is delivered and then passes the responsibility to the "mother" (in this instance, the Product manager).

In this case, the Product Manager is like the mother because they are the one who come up with the idea, work on it for several months, bring the product to the market, and then take responsibility for it until the time it is obsolete.

The executive team is ultimately responsible for the success of the business.

Different Types of Product Management Roles

The titles and descriptions for a Product Manager are different, even though the basic duties are the same. Chief product officer, associate product manager, and product owner are some terms that describe different levels of product management experience.

You may come across the following categories in product management:

Manager of Growth Product

A growth PM is concerned with achieving a specific goal that the company sets to gauge its expansion. Growth PMs often work closely with product and traditional marketing teams to ensure their efforts broaden the product's reach.

Growth product managers perform several quick tests to test the effectiveness of their projects or items. Then, they quickly switch to other projects to meet commercial expectations.

They can test anything from pricing to text and even assist with go-to-market plans. Growth product managers would benefit from experience in psychology, digital marketing, or advertising.

Technical Product Management

Technical product managers should have a background in engineering or development. This type of PM works closely with the technical team to improve the functionality of the company's product, the tech stack, the security, and other aspects of its online presence.

These PMs focus more on the internal operation of the product rather than its appearance. Many technical top product managers started their careers as engineers before switching fields.

Data Products Manager

A job as a Data Product Manager is perfect for you if you are passionate about numbers and excel at math. Data PMs work with data scientists and analysts to create use cases for businesses to measure the performance of new products or features.

They are often responsible for keeping track of all customer interactions across the entire product interface so that other stakeholders or PMs can learn important information about how consumers use the product.

Any aspiring data PM would benefit from a finance, mathematics, or data sciences degree.

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7 Tips For Identifying And Hiring Product Managers

Let's begin with the obvious:

Ability To Solve Problems

Many product leaders value problem-solving abilities above all else in a PM. Product management can be a challenging task with many moving parts.

This also requires quick responses to unexpected issues. They are looking for a creative PM with a natural aptitude to solve problems.

It is difficult to determine if a candidate for PM has this skill by asking a challenging interview question. These puzzles are familiar to you.

You could, for example, ask the candidate to tell you which of the three switches in the room controls the light fixtures in the adjacent rooms before they enter. This is not a good idea.

Avoid creating obstacles during interviews that will prevent candidates from completing applications. You can ask them about their history, product features, or management strategy.

Speak to them. You can demonstrate your ability to think creatively and solve problems by having this conversation.

Great Communication Skills

Communication is one of the top skills product executives look for when hiring a PM. Even if a PM candidate has all the required credentials, such as a strong technical foundation, relevant product-management experience, and specialized knowledge of your industry, they may still struggle to communicate effectively with colleagues from different teams and departments.

We've already talked about how important it is for a PM to learn English, especially in certain departments like sales and development.

Communication skills are the most important trait to look for when hiring a product manager.

Empathy

Empathy is also a quality that product leaders look for in their managers. It is the ability to see things from the customer's perspective and develop products that meet their needs, wants, and motivations.

This is especially true in the modern world, where everyone is preoccupied with their goals and needs. It isn't easy to cultivate this quality. Experts have written about empathy because they've experienced it as product leaders at major B2B companies.

Leadership And Charisma

In contrast to other attributes, charisma (natural leadership skills) cannot be as obvious. Over the years, many product executives have said charisma is just as important.

Product managers often lead cross-functional teams that must coordinate their efforts. They don't have authority over their team. In the hierarchy of an organization, some team members may be placed above the project manager, for example, a Vice-President of Engineering.

How does a manager of a complex product launch handle such a task? Innate leadership abilities. Product leads say that great PMs can foster camaraderie among all teams and departments working on their product.

This task is not easy, as many PMs have to refuse requests from different teams or force them to do more with fewer resources. A PM must have the charisma to overcome these obstacles. Professionals passionate about the product's success must motivate the cross-functional team.

An Insatiable Curiosity

Experts say that a curious product manager will never accept a single solution. Here's a summary of what product managers from many companies, especially technology, told us.

Product management requires a high level of initiative and motivation. It is difficult for a Product Vice president to give PMs detailed instructions on what they should do daily.

The first or second answer may be easy for PMs to choose. Curious leaders know that PMs may not always know what they do not know.

You'd want an internally motivated PM to continue looking because many of the best strategic decisions are only made after extensive research and analysis.

Passion

The expert talked about the qualities an expert seeks in a product manager. Many product executives told us there are many product leaders, but not enough of those with excellent communication and problem-solving skills.

Passion is the most important characteristic for experts when evaluating a candidate as a Prime Minister. The expert said that when people are agitated, it is easy to see in their eyes.

Raw meat is what it's called. They are determined to achieve their goals.

This expert provided a key insight. The development of a new product can take many months or even years. This process is fraught with challenges, setbacks, and disappointments.

If the product manager overseeing the product's long and frustrating development does not feel passionate about its market launch, the entire venture could fail. When hiring product managers, keep in mind their natural enthusiasm.

Comfortable With Failure

Really? Yep. Leaders of innovative and intelligent products see the bigger picture. They know that the launch of a product or market could fail for various reasons.

They have told us repeatedly that they want to make sure that the PM that they choose will not quit on a failing product. These executives want a PM who can express their sadness and gather valuable insights for the next launch.

This could be a good interview question. What would you do if your product received a poor market response or had a disappointing launch? You should not penalize applicants if they claim a product failure would destroy them.

Some PMs may be willing to respond to this difficult issue with a long-term view. This could cause problems during interviews.

Imagine you are looking to hire a product manager that understands the importance of failure and how it can be used as a learning tool. It might be helpful to bring up this topic during interviews.

What Are The Responsibilities And Tasks Of A Project Manager?

Project phases can be divided into four categories: Initiation and Planning, Execution, and Closure. The Best Project Managers is responsible for several tasks throughout the project's lifecycle:

• Determine the scope and scale of the project
• On-time
• Planning and budgeting a project will help you stay within your budget
• Manage project resources, including teams and workers
• Documenting the actual progress of the project
• Communication with stakeholders
• Assessing risks
• Troubleshooting
• Leading Quality Assurance

There will never be two identical jobs or projects. On any given day, you might be interviewing and hiring new talent.

Or manage team meetings. Reallocate resources to cover an unexpected expense. Inform stakeholders of the progress of your project.

How Does The Project Manager Work Remotely?

The Right Team For Building: You need to empower your staff so they can work without constant communication.

Here are some tips to help you decide who in your team is responsible for what.

You Can Assign Based On Your Skills: To succeed in a project, it is important to have the right team.

Empower Your Team with: Encourage your team to take the initiative and create their project schedule.

Identify the team's challenges and possible deadlines. It is important not to micromanage their homework. Allow them to finish their work in the way that they prefer.

Everyday Stand-Up: You can ask for help from the other team members by asking them to do standup.

Ask the team:

• What did you do yesterday?
• What are your plans for today?
• Can you get help from anyone else on your team if you're blocked?

Encourage your team members to use video conferencing software. Turn on the camera, and they will all be able to see each other.

Be Transparent: Each member of the team must understand their role in the overall picture. The team should know who is working and what tasks are most important.

Here are some tips to help you be more transparent.

Visible Roadmap: How can a team reach their desired destination if they do not know where it's located? All team members and stakeholders should have access to the roadmap.

This will help to encourage team buy-in and ultimately lead to success.

Communication Is Key: Be sure to discuss this with your colleagues and stakeholders. Getting feedback and ideas for projects from within and outside the team is best.

Open-ended questions can help you get valuable feedback that will guide your project decisions.

Priority Management: You may need to make difficult decisions when managing small projects. When deciding on where to focus your attention, answer these questions.

• What is your vision of the customer experience?
• What are the needs and concerns of our stakeholders?
• What are the most critical problems?

Prioritize your tasks: Decision-making can be complicated by conflicting opinions or gut feelings.

Prioritization should be standardized.

Add Buffer Time: There will always be delays.

Everyone Has Ownership: Meeting deadlines is essential to the success of any project.

Each Task Must Have A Deadline: Every team member must know what they are responsible for and when.

Assign The Decision Maker: Hire Product Managers, or the owner must have the final say. Remote team members need to know who is in charge of a project.

Retrospect: After a team completes a large task or project, it's important to collect data to see what can be improved for future projects.

Collecting data is more important than ever, especially if you're facing a change in your working style. Ask the team some insightful questions at the end of every project:

• This project was successful.
• What can be improved on?
• Can you work effectively with our tools?
• What can we do to improve communication?
• Did you meet your schedule?
• What do you think about the tasks and assignments you were responsible for?
• What can we offer to make your next visit easier?

Best Practices For Remote Managers

It is important to be very clear about what the project's goals are and how it will be implemented. It doesn't matter if the project is partially or fully remote.

This keeps everyone on the same page, and it motivates your team. It's not bad to hold a regular meeting each morning when the agenda is clearly defined.

Status reports are vital to remote project management. Teams must keep project managers informed. Project managers must also be able to communicate with teams.

When team members are not under the same roof, it's easy to lose touch. When there is a strong communication bond, remote project management can work. Project managers should be open to feedback from the team and make sure that team members know what they can expect.

To avoid costly delays, having a single data source for small projects and team management is important. It's a problem if project managers and teams use different data sets.

Cloud-based online remote project management tools enable real-time data to be shared across all project views. Everyone can work with the most recent data.

Also Read: Are Product Owners and Product Managers the Same

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How Can You Find A Project Manager That Will Help Your Business Grow?

Start with these four options:

Define The Skills Required For The Role Of Project Manager

These managers are responsible for leading crucial projects and must possess skills that shine. They should also be able to communicate effectively, both internally and externally.

You need to establish several touchpoints to build strong, trusting relationships with clients. Project managers must be able to translate client needs effectively to team members who are responsible for delivering deliverables.

Project managers should also be able:

• Listen carefully
• Schedule daily tasks as well as large-scale projects
• Prioritize your tasks
• Problem-solving is a creative process
• Project risk management: Identifying and managing project risks
• Give feedback to production and clients
• Success in teamwork

You will also need to find a project manager who can meet the specific needs of your business. Are you looking for someone with a specific subject matter expertise or experience? You're looking for experienced project managers who have worked in the same production environments they will be managing.

You need to know they will plan and document their process rather than winging it. Do you need your project managers with experience in a specific software package? You will see the results much quicker if you choose the right candidates from the start.

What Are The Key Behavioral Traits That They Should Exhibit?

While they may have all the right skills and experience, if they can't work well with others or gain respect from the clients, then it could cause major problems.

Skills and experience can be important when hiring project managers, but attitude and behavior are even more crucial.

• Organized
• Proactive
• Adaptable
• Positive
• Honest
• Influential

Hire Smartly Using Science And Smart Hiring Techniques

Smart hiring goes deeper to determine the person's character and ability to carry out your company's strategy, even if it takes a little longer to find the "right" candidate.

A manager must be able to track and improve projects and understand how to adjust the scope of work for better results. Hiring managers can also use technology to determine how well candidates will fit the role. When you know the qualities you want in a project manager, you can use the right tools to screen for the most suitable candidates.

Ask candidates to complete cognitive and behavioral assessments for their initial application. Our scientifically-validated PI Behavioral Assessment(tm) identifies individuals' innate behavioral drives.

If a candidate is flexible and doesn't like structure, you don't want them to be in a position where they have to work hard and deal with the details. They could pretend to be happy for a while, but eventually, they would not. A poor fit for the job is one of the reasons that good employees leave.

These profiles help us identify strengths and ensure that the right job is filled. The PI Cognitive Assessment (tm) measures the candidate's learning ability.

It is important to hire someone whose cognitive score is within the range of your Job Target. Hiring someone who has a lower score will increase the likelihood that they won't be able to perform well in the job and may even leave.

Your hiring process will be simplified with the help of science. You'll have fewer resumes and better candidates to choose from.

Hire With A Bias-Free Mind

Research shows that hiring managers' unconscious bias can still affect their judgment of candidates, no matter how much they try to be objective.

You can reduce this subjective bias by introducing objectivity and science to your decision-making. You can assess candidates based on data that will help you predict their success on the job, including behavioral traits and cognitive abilities.

This allows candidates to move on to the next interview stage because they are a good match for the job, not because of their gender, age, or school.

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Conclusion

Both project and product management have similar concepts. They both solve problems, but to develop a successful product, you must understand the differences between these concepts.

You can only achieve your business goals by following this advice. According to the Project Management Institute, the global economy will require 87.7 million project management roles by 2027.

This means more job opportunities for project management professionals. Contact Coders.dev to discover qualified project managers for your requirements.

Project management is a method of achieving specific goals and completing a project within budget and on time. Once a project is complete, it no longer needs to be managed.

Product Management is a broad view that focuses on the external customer, the project's success, and its overall.

It's best to separate the roles to avoid conflict of interest or underperformance. This allows for a better allocation of resources and a more defined project timeline.

Does one person in your company take on the roles of both Product & Project Managers simultaneously? How many product managers are there in your company? You may have had difficulty separating the two concepts described in this article. Consider hiring an expert to handle your software project.