What is the difference between project management and product management?
In companies, project management and product management are equally important fields, however, they cover different areas. However, it is not uncommon for the tasks of a project manager and a product manager to overlap. This begs the question:
What is the difference between project management and product management?
In this article, you will find the answer to this and also learn which individual tasks project managers and product managers respectively undertake.
What does project management consist of?
In business, working on different projects is the norm. What is usually called a "project" is typically a complex task made up of several work flows that build on top of each other. The time frame in which the project must be executed is usually determined by upper management.
Project management is responsible for initiating, planning, monitoring and completing projects.
What does a project manager do?
Strictly speaking, the term "project manager" can not only be a job title but can also be assumed by professionals working in other fields within the company. Strong communication and leadership skills, being organized, focused and performance-driven are some vital hallmarks of a project manager's job.
What responsibilities does project management have?
The scope of project management covers all activities related to the planning and implementation of projects.
The first step of every project is to create a plan - this is done in coordination with the project managers or clients.
In the next step, the project manager puts together a project team, which he or she supervises and guides. They must also ensure that every team member does their respective task with due diligence and on schedule.
Other project management responsibilities include:
- Budget tracking and monitoring
- Keeping up with the project timeline
- Organizing resources
- Communicating with all stakeholders, (reportings and presentation to management)
In summary: it is the project manager's job is to ensure the project's successful completion within a given timeline.
What is product management?
Product management deals with the discovery, planning and development of a company's products.
The product is the centerpoint - the product manager should be familiar with it and all its functions, key components and benefits to the the company and mainly its costumers.
Larger companies usually have a designated product management department. It is the connection between production, development, marketing and sales. Collaboration with these departments is always necessary to optimize the quality of the products and to market them successfully.
What does a product manager do?
A product manager is responsible for the development and marketing of a specific product. This includes market reserach, developing product strategies, recognizing potential, collaborating with development teams, and more.
In addition to excellent product and marketing knowledge, the job requires skills such as strong communication, assertiveness and time management capabilities.
What responsibilities does product management have?
Product management has the strategic responsibility of managing a product across departments and launching it on the market. To do this, it is necessary to first analyze the market and identify customer needs in order to ultimately prepare and execute the market launch.
Part of this process are setting the price and planning of marketing strategies.
Product controlling and recalls are also part of the product manager's area of responsibility. In order to be a excellent product manager, one must have strong organisational, strategic and forward-thinking skills.
What is the difference between project management and product management?
Now that you have learned a bit about the scope of tasks and responsibilities of project management and product management, let's look at the differences:
1. Product management is an important part of the overall product development process. However, its work does not end with the launch of the product on the market, but covers its entire product life cycle - all the way to discontinuation. In contrast, for project management, a task is considered complete as soon as the project has been completed.
2. The product manager is the link between the project leader and all other stakeholders, while the project manager acts as a kind of coordinator between the technical staff and the product manager.
3. Product managers are visionaries and set goals, project managers take on an executing role by following the vision and striving to make it a reality.
4. For product managers, a comprehensive and strategic knowledge of products is crucial, project managers are concerned with the planning and tactical aspects.
Conclusion
The fact is that there are some differences between project management and product management.
To boil it all down: project management focuses on the execution of projects within a given timeframe and budget, while product management is mainly concerned with the development and sale of products.
Both disciplines, however, have equally important functions for a company. Without them, there would be no new products or services and thus no growth and progress for the business.
Project management as well as product management thus contribute to the company's success and achievement of its goals by ensuring that projects and products are profitably planned, developed and implemented.