Product managers are responsible for overseeing the management lifecycle of a product. This encompasses product teams, product strategy, and the product roadmap. Project managers, on the other hand, must plan, execute, monitor, and ensure the successful completion of organizational projects. In other words, they execute the product development plan formulated by the product manager.
Understanding the role of a product manager
In his 2008 book Inspired, author Marty Cagan notes that the role of a product manager is to “discover a product that is valuable, usable, and feasible.” While this is a useful (if not succinct) definition, let’s take a look at the role of a product manager in more detail.
For one, the product manager must create a research-based vision for the product and effectively communicate that vision to the rest of the organization. They must be persuasive speakers and have the ability to drum up passionate interest and involvement from the relevant stakeholders.
When this has been achieved, the product manager must create a strategic action plan to help make the vision a reality. This normally takes the form of a product map, which clarifies the necessary tasks, goals, teams, and deadlines.
Understanding the role of a project manager
According to the Project Management Institute, project managers “make project goals their own and use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose within the project team. They enjoy the organised adrenaline of new challenges and the responsibility of driving business results.”
To deliver these successful outcomes, the project manager must be comfortable with uncertainty and change in dynamic business environments. They must also have great people skills to foster a sense of trust and camaraderie and help teams work to their maximum potential.
Furthermore, the project manager must possess a diverse range of techniques to break complex tasks into smaller sub-tasks with documentation, control, and monitoring. They recognize that each project has a unique set of contextual constraints that can only be overcome with a tailored approach.
Lastly, project managers must communicate progress to key stakeholders and ensure the project is completed before the stated deadline.
Overlap between a product manager and project manager
Despite the obvious differences, there is some overlap between the two roles.
On the odd occasion, a product manager will be required to analyze product development at the task level. Since this is usually the domain of the project manager, the two individuals may work in close collaboration and share some of the associated responsibility.
Conversely, there may be instances where the project manager is required to take a more holistic or strategic view of the project. Here, it’s important to note that most of the skills a project manager possesses can easily be applied to the broader domain of a product manager.
For instance, a project manager with a track record of troubleshooting activities is, in essence, someone who possesses effective problem-solving skills. The ability to problem solve is one of many soft skills that managers must develop – regardless of industry or title.
Other soft skills that are common to the product and project manager job description include transparency, listening, trustworthiness, and reliability.
Key takeaways:
Product managers oversee the management lifecycle of a product, encompassing product teams, product strategy, and the product roadmap. They must be able to develop a plan to bring a vision to reality and convince key stakeholders that this vision is viable.
Project managers plan, execute, monitor, and ensure the successful completion of organizational projects. They must be skilled people managers, be comfortable with change and uncertainty, and deliver projects according to stated timelines.
There is some overlap between the role of a product manager and a project manager. Sometimes the product manager will be required to look at the project at the task level. Conversely, the project manager may need to consider a more holistic view of the project. In any case, there are various soft skills and associated competencies that are common to both job descriptions.
Another dimension of asymmetric betting is given by how impactful the idea can be to the business. When we have asymmetric bets that can have a high impact and are easy to reverse, we get to the “Jackpot” and go into an “All-In-Mode” of action! And how easy to reverse.
Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
A consumer brand company like Procter & Gamble (P&G) defines “Constructive Disruption” as: a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. According to P&G, it moves around four pillars: lean innovation, brand building, supply chain, and digitalization & data analytics.
That is a process that requires a continuous feedback loop to develop a valuable product and build a viable businessmodel. Continuous innovation is a mindset where products and services are designed and delivered to tune them around the customers’ problem and not the technical solution of its founders.
In a business world driven by technology and digitalization, competition is much more fluid, as innovation becomes a bottom-up approach that can come from anywhere. Thus, making it much harder to define the boundaries of existing markets. Therefore, a proper business competition analysis looks at customer, technology, distribution, and financial model overlaps. While at the same time looking at future potential intersections among industries that in the short-term seem unrelated.
Business innovation is about creating new opportunities for an organization to reinvent its core offerings, revenue streams, and enhance the value proposition for existing or new customers, thus renewing its whole businessmodel. Business innovation springs by understanding the structure of the market, thus adapting or anticipating those changes.
Digital transformation enables existing businesses to leverage digital technologies for business model innovation. The process of digital transformation is not just about new distribution channels. It starts by better serving key customers, and it completes by developing a new business mindset required to succeed in the digital era.
Disruptive innovation as a term was first described by Clayton M. Christensen, an American academic and business consultant whom The Economist called “the most influential management thinker of his time.” Disruptive innovation describes the process by which a product or service takes hold at the bottom of a market and eventually displaces established competitors, products, firms, or alliances.
An innovation funnel is a tool or process ensuring only the best ideas are executed. In a metaphorical sense, the funnel screens innovative ideas for viability so that only the best products, processes, or business models are launched to the market. An innovation funnel provides a framework for the screening and testing of innovative ideas for viability.
Digital and tech business models can be classified according to four levels of transformation into digitally-enabled, digitally-enhanced, tech or platform business models, and business platforms/ecosystems.
The McKinsey Horizon Model helps a business focus on innovation and growth. The model is a strategy framework divided into three broad categories, otherwise known as horizons. Thus, the framework is sometimes referred to as McKinsey’s Three Horizons of Growth.
Technological modeling is a discipline to provide the basis for companies to sustain innovation, thus developing incremental products. While also looking at breakthrough innovative products that can pave the way for long-term success. In a sort of Barbell Strategy, technological modeling suggests having a two-sided approach, on the one hand, to keep sustaining continuous innovation as a core part of the business model. On the other hand, it places bets on future developments that have the potential to break through and take a leap forward.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
