Project Manager vs Product Manager

One of the key challenges that we hear when we talk to PRODUCT Managers is that they are often expected to
perform the role of PROJECT Manager for some or all of the delivery of their product to the marketplace.
On the Brainmates Product Management People LinkedIn group, Tom Adler posted the following question to find
out the difference:

I know that Product Managers are often asked to be Project Managers. Are
Project Managers often asked to be Product Managers?.
This generated a lot of reactions, mostly questioning whether one person can effectively fulfil both roles at the same
time.
Here hare a few of the comments posted:

Scot Sehlhorst:
For me, the difference is simple. Project management has the following area of focus: when. Product
management has the following area of focus: why Can one person be held accountable for both? Sure.

Irene Liakos:
A project managers role is very different from a product manager. Using the same person as product and project
manager does justice to neither role.

Chris Dahl:
It also depends on the person, and the size of the business. In startup/DMB environment Im sure there are
situations where both roles are performed by the one person, and to an acceptable level. Agree the ideal situation is
to break it out into two different roles, but it can work when still small
At Brainmates we treat these two roles as fundamentally different, yet interrelated roles. As a reaction to this
discussion we wanted to elaborate more on the interaction of these roles and sat down with Damian Haslam, Project
Manager at Vodafone.

Product Manager vs Project Manager: The Brainmates perspective

The first challenge in differentiating the role of Project Manager or a Product Manager is that they sound a lot alike.
While it is a trivial semantic issue it often leads to confusion about the 2 roles. Its important to begin with the definition
of the words Product and Project.

PROJECT: A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result [1].

PRODUCT: A product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or a need [2]. A
product has a life cycle. Its conceived, developed, introduced and managed in the market, and retired when the
need for a product diminishes. A product developed within context of a project is needed to create a product. During
the life cycle of a product sometimes multiple projects can occur.
As a result of these definitions we can see that a Project Managers focus is internal and tactical whereas a Product
Mangers focus is external on the customers need and on the resulting product strategy .

Project Management
A Project Manager is ultimately responsible for a predefined outcome which will be described as the projects objective.
They will manage the development of the product, service or result through the application of available resources
(including a project team).
Project Management as a discipline provides the tools and techniques for the team to organise and prioritise the
various tasks that need to be completed, as well as work within any applicable constraints (including time, cost, and
quality). The tools and techniques Project Managers usually employ can be roughly divided into 3 main areas:

Risk and issue management is an important aspect of Project Management and serves to highlight and then
manage any risks to the project completing successfully, as well as minimising the impact of any issues that are
identified.

Resource management involves ensuring the project team have what they need, when they need it. That
includes such simple things as task lists, materials, infrastructure, reporting and even extra people

Scope management is usually the most difficult activity a Project Manager is involved in and involves limiting
the extent (scope) of the endeavour within acceptable allowances, usually engaging in a balancing act between the
three critical aspects of time, cost and quality. For instance, if the time to deliver the project is reduced then either
cost must be increased, or scope reduced to maintain quality.
Project management is a tactical, time limited activity that is defined by the businesses strategic objectives.

Product Manager
A Product Managers is responsible for the ongoing satisfaction of unmet needs of customers so it will contribute to
the following:

More value than the competition

Build a sustainable competitive advantage

Financial benefit for a business

This includes but also extends beyond the lifecycle of any one product. Managing the product throughout the product
lifecycle ensuring that it continues to satisfy market needs includes:

Gathering and prioritising product and customer requirements,

Defining the product vision,

Working closely with engineering,

Working with sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met.
The Product Managers job also includes ensuring that the product and marketing efforts support the companys
overall strategy and goals. A Product Manager tries to find out the customers needs and develop a product to satisfy
them.
Product Management DEFINES the strategic business objectives that initiate discrete projects.

Role Overlap
Its evident that the roles of a Project Manager and a Product Manager are very different but these roles have a similar
skill set.

Excellent organisational and interpersonal skills

Leadership qualities

Time management
So it is not uncommon for organisations to ask Product Managers to take on Project Management responsibility and
vice versa.

Resulting Problems
We see that doing both jobs can compromise the successful delivery of a project

If a Product Manager is also running a project his/her time and attention for the customer strategy gets
diverted to chasing people, reporting etc.

You do not have the sufficient skill set to perform well on all points. A Project Manager excels at managing to
datelines and a Product Manager knows what the customer wants and keeps that in mind.

Wearing both hats with different objectives sometimes results in a conflict of interest.

How Can We Manage These Problems?

In some situations it may still be feasible to have the Product Manager also undertake the Project Management role.
However it is always ideal to have these two roles done by two individuals. Depending on the following factors, it is
good to recommend that both Project Manger and Product Manager roles will be carried out by two individuals to
successfully complete a project and launch a good product:

Large size project

Multiple involved departments and stakeholders

Longer delivery time line

Multiple geographic locations

Big team (i.e. 5+ people to co-ordinate)

Project Manager vs Product Manager Detector

Brainmates has developed a simple tool to identify if you are doing the job of a Product Manager or a Project
Manager. The tool contains a set of questions and a results presentation grid. The grid provides a visual overview to
help you determine if you are doing the job of a Product Manager or Project Manager. Your questionnaire scores will

determine the colours displayed on the presentation grid. for example, if an activity displays the colour PINK it means
that you are doing a task that is not part of the core focus of your role.
In the example below the Product Manager has been doing a couple of the Project Managers tasks. The Product
Managers tasks are shown on the left side of the grid. The right side of the grid shows the Project Mangers tasks. On
the grid below a couple of tasks are coloured PINK. This indicates that the Product Manager has fulfilled tasks that
he/she ideally should not be doing. We can also see that some Product Managers tasks are PURPLE. This indicates
that the Product Manager is not able to complete his/her own required tasks.

The tool can be downloaded here and we would love to get your feedback and ideas on how to improve it.

Summary
Having both a Project Manager and a Product Manager will contribute to the successful launch of a product in a
positive way. Derek Morrison provides the perfect metaphor :

A Project Manager is like a mid wife- he/she delivers the baby, hands it over to
the mother and moves on. The baby being the product and the mother being the
Product Manager
It is not a question of one or the other. Both the Product Manager and the Project Manager roles are
required for long term business success.

References:

[1] Project Management Institute (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge:
PMBOK Guide. 3rd Edition. Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Project Management Institute, p. 5.
[2] Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Brown, L., and Adam, S. (2006) Marketing, 7th Ed. Pearson Education
Australia/Prentice Hall.

Tags : product management, Project Management

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Please add your feedback in the comments below.

Steve Johnson says:

Good definitions. For me, a proDUCT manager works with the product throughout its lifecycle; a proJECT manager
works with a project through a single development cycle or cycles. And I agree with Scott: proJECT is about WHEN.
For my take on titles, see Managers as Experts
at http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/topics/06/0603sj

Steve Johnson says:

And to revise Dereks point:

proJECT manager = midwife;
proDUCT manager = father;
Development manager = mother.
I think most of us would agree that the dev team and the mother both create the product, while the product manager
and father are involved in planning and nurturing.

Adrienne says:

In this case Steve, there are 2 Product Managers, the Mother and the Father!

Yossi says:

Id like to modify the above WH questions definitions:

Product Manager Functionality wise (Customer/Application domain):
What the market needs, What should the system do & When (window of opportunity), When ready (due to his
colleague the Project Manager) What is to be done for proper product introduction, sales & customer
training/support
Product Manager Technologically wise (R&D/Manufacturing/tech support domain):
How will the system look like, Who will do what, How much $$$ is to be spent, When it will be ready (time to market)
and in What level of maturity

Emma says:

Great definitions and clarifications.

Id like to add another question into the mix, assuming the roles as they have been described above.
Who is ultimately reponsible for the product? Is the Product Manager answerable to the Project Manager or vice
versa?
Who is the one source of truth for all information during the development of the product?

Yossi says:

AS of my experience: The proJECT mngr takes care for the product until its death (even in mid organizations that
have
a Production-Engineering dep.)/ It includes modifications & SW releases.
Id like to modify the above WH questions definitions:
ProDUCT Manager Functionality wise (Customer/Application domain):

What the market needs, What should the system do & When (window of opportunity), When ready (due to his
colleague the Project Manager) What is to be done for proper product introduction, sales & customer
training/support
ProJECT Manager Technologically wise (R&D/Manufacturing/tech support domain):
How will the system look like, Who will do what, How much $$$ is to be spent, When it will be ready (time to market)
and in What level of maturity

Project Minder says:

This happens all too often, and can become quite overwhelming for a product manager asked to become a temporary
project manager! A more likely role would be that of a project minder, with a dedicated manager in charge.

Andrew Freedman says:

Emma From my experience (as a product manager), the Product Manager is ultimately responsible for the product,
just as a parent is ultimately responsible for the child (borrowing from above analogies).
The product manager also has ultimate say on truth (if you mean what I think you mean). It is the Product Managers
job to know the priorities and benefits of marketing this product in the first place. Or from a different angle, If the
proDUCT manager decides that there are no longer any business reasons to release a product in development, the
proJECT manager can not overrule and insist they finish the project anyway.

Subrat says:

Hi all,
Thnkzz for the wonderful info.

Subrat says:

Hi All,
I am working as an Associate S/W Engg. in a MNC from approx. to be 1yr and i aspire to be a good Project Manager.
Really this blog in a short-time helped me a lot to understand, behind the scenes of management.
I am a completely new seed to this area but with all my will, interest and power is ready to jump into this.
Was wandering if i can get any personal email address to have advices from the real-time project managers who can
guide me as a mentor and let me get loaded to have a blast as a Project Manager.
Please help me if possible to get hold and relish my dreams.

Nico says:

Thanks for the post and for the tool.

Has been very useful to understand the connections and/or gaps between these 2. I am a Project manager to whom
has been offered a Product Portfolio Manager position.

Jatin Kathuria says:

Clear, Crisp and very enlightening. thanks.

Webniche says:

As some one mentioned above smaller companies cannot always afford the expense of both a Product Manager and
a Project Manager. I believe if you have passion for the product it is very easy for the project manager to fulfill both
roles

Dimitris says:

I completely agree. Product management is broader than project management as far as the job requirements is
concerned. Product management is horizontal including sale of the product, technology, legal, business model,
positioning, branding, and marketing of the product etc. whereas project management is vertical including scoping,
developing, monitoring and delivering.

hatem salih says:

Due to the nature of product management processes, I do not think a project manager can be a product manager for: project management processes, tools and techniques are the same for all projects. While product management
processes are product- specific. a software project implements the same processes of building a bridge. while
developing a software processes (pmbok project life cycles) widely differs from building that bridge.
building product process is different and uses different T&Ts that applys only for building the same project.
both use quality assurance and quality control but in both cases (QA&QC) targets the product QA and the processes
that results in it QC.
managing product needs product- specifi skills. it is not necessary that product manager have project management
skills. someone else may help him but not anyone can rake over from him unless has the same skilles. this isn t the
case in project management. any person with general project management skills can take over. hope these personal
assumptions helps.

The Product Manager vs. Project Manager

It was a big day. I was presenting a new product idea to the executive team. After speaking
with dozens of customers, the product team knew that we had touched a nerve. This
idea would be an excellent way to increase our market share against our competition.
I walked into the conference room ready to go. I confidently shared our strategic vision for why we needed the new product,
and offered quantifiable goals to measure our success. I also discussed what each new feature would do, and the benefits
that our customers would gain.
As we were finishing the presentation, our CFO was convinced that this was the right move. He wanted to jump right into the
financial details and for a moment, I was tripped up. I had been so focused on looking out at the big picture. I did not know
the specifics of what each phase would cost and was unprepared to answer his questions.
Luckily, our project manager was in the room with me. I glanced over at her with the look of help in my eyes. She jumped
right in and explained how the team would get it done on time and under budget. Thanks to her knowledge and readiness,
that big day turned out to be even bigger than I had ever imagined.

Why did my presentation go off without a hitch? I understood my role as the product
manager and my colleagues role as the project manager.
But this is not always the case. These roles often cause confusion, even in savvy tech companies. It is understandable
the words are separated by only two letters. And in most organizations, the responsibilities overlap in more ways than any
other roles. In some cases, the same person is the product manager and the project manager.
Ive worked with countless project managers in my 15 years as a product manager. I have even played the dual role on
occasion which works just as well as splitting it up.
So, what is the first step towards a successful working relationship if you are working on a team with product and
project managers?
The key is having clear boundaries (and crossing them when needed with intent and clear communication). When you
internalize what each of you are accountable for, you will better understand your responsibilities and points of intersection.
That is how you collaborate and build great products.

Definition
It helps to begin by describing how we think about a product and a project.
A product is what you are providing to a group of users. It can be anything: a physical product that you hold in your
hands, a software application, or a service that you are delivering.
In contrast, a project is a plan with a series of activities that has a defined outcome and a fixed start and end date.
The project is completed when that outcome is accomplished.
So, lets assume that your product is a new mobile application. It might contain many projects before it is ready to be
launched. These projects all have their own unique starting and ending points. The mobile application, however, is a product
which will continue to be improved as long as it is being sold to customers.

Role
What is a product manager? Product managers are often described as the CEOs of their products. They set the strategy,
prioritize releases, talk to customers, and clearly define features. Their efforts are ongoing and involve managing the entire
lifecycle of the product. A product managers goal is to deliver a product that customers love.

What is a project manager? Project managers oversee a fixed project from beginning to end. It can be a single project or a
group of projects. Their job is to execute the strategy set by the product manager or leadership team. A project managers
goal is to work with a broader team with a diverse set of skills and to complete a project on time and under budget.
Each role performs unique functions to achieve specific goals. So, the next step is to break out the details of who does what,
because this is where uncertainty and conflict often arise.

Responsibility
The product manager is responsible for setting the product strategy. By having a goal first approach to managing and
building the product, great product managers can create initiatives to help reach those goals. This approach helps determine
which features should be built to achieve those goals. Product managers must answer these questions: What problem does
this solve? And, What are you building? And, What will the benefits be?
Product managers own:

Strategy

Releases

Ideation

Features

Go-to-Market

Organizational training

Profit and Loss

The project manager is often less concerned with specific product goals. They are more focused on the project itself. A
project manager takes product initiatives and features to develop a timeline based on any potential constraints related to
resources, risks, or scope. Project managers must answer the questions, What resources are needed? And, When will the
project get delivered? And, Who is going to do what?
Project managers own:

Budget

Delivery

Resources

Capacity

Cross-team organization

Problem resolution

Status updates

Collaboration
Product managers and project managers work closely together in high-performance organizations. And both work with the
broader product team and executive leaders.
The product manager collaborates daily with cross-functional teams regarding the future of the product: Engineering,Sales
and Marketing, Customer Success, etc. And since the product manager is responsible for the product throughout its lifecycle,
she will naturally be involved with any project that concerns the product. So, it is the product managers job to define the
scope of each specific project. She explains why these projects will achieve high level goals for her product and business.
The project manager also works with the broader team, but is focused on bringing plans to life. And his work is more timefixed. He manages one effort and once that project is complete, he moves on to organizing other tasks. For example, a
project team might be assembled to tackle a UX redesign with a target date that is six months away. The project manager
will be concerned with that projects budget, resources, deadline, and quality. He will understand the many details of each
project.

Product and project managers each perform unique functions. When aligned properly,
they both can shine.
Product and project managers see the same work through different lenses. And thats a good thing when you are trying to
achieve something special like bringing a new product to market as I was. But they both work for the same team. And when
they join forces to collaborate, everyone benefits and the company wins.
Have you seen product managers and project managers work well together?

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Product management
Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, and
production, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Similarly, Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM)[1] integrates people, data, processes and business systems. It provides product information for
companies and their extended supply chain enterprise.
The role may consist of product development and product marketing, which are different (yet complementary) efforts, with
the objective of maximizing sales revenues, market share, and profit margins. Product management also involves
elimination decisions. Product elimination begins with identification of elimination candidates, proceeds with the
consideration of remedial actions, continues with a projection of the impact on the business as a whole if a candidate
product is eventually eliminated, and concludes with the implementation stage, where management determines the
elimination strategy for an item.[2] The product manager is often responsible for analyzing market conditions and defining
features or functions of a product. The role of product management spans many activities from strategic to tactical and
varies based on the organizational structure of the company. To maximize the impact and benefits to an organization,
Product management must be an independent function separate on its own.
While involved with the entire product lifecycle, the product management's main focus is on driving new product
development. According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new
products ones that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer are the number one driver of success
and product profitability.[3]
Depending on the company size and history, product management has a variety of functions and roles. Sometimes there is a
product manager, and sometimes the role of product manager is shared by other roles. Frequently there is Profit and Loss
(P&L) responsibility as a key metric for evaluating product manager performance. In some companies, the product
management function is the hub of many other activities around the product. In others, it is one of many things that need to
happen to bring a product to market and actively monitor and manage it in-market. In very large companies, the product
manager may have effective control over shipment decisions to customers, when system specifications are not being met.
Product management often serves an inter-disciplinary role, bridging gaps within the company between teams of different
expertise, most notably between engineering-oriented teams and commercially oriented teams. For example, product
managers often translate business objectives set for a product by Marketing or Sales into engineering requirements
(sometimes called a Technical Specification). Conversely they may work to explain the capabilities and limitations of the
finished product back to Marketing and Sales (sometimes called a Commercial Specification). Product Managers may also
have one or more direct reports who manage operational tasks and/or a Change Manager who can oversee new initiatives.
Manufacturing is separate from the research function, the product manager has the responsibility to bridge the gaps if any
exist.
In most technology companies, most Product Managers possess knowledge in the following areas: computer science,
business, and user experience.

Product Marketing[edit]

Product Life Cycle considerations

Product differentiation

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Product naming and branding

Product positioning and outbound messaging

Promoting the product externally with press, customers and partners

Conducting customer feedback and enabling (pre-production, beta software)

Launching new products to market

Monitoring the competition

Product Development[edit]

Testing

Identifying new product candidates

Considering new candidates

Gathering the voice of customers

Defining product requirements

Determining business-case and feasibility

Scoping and defining new products at high level

Evangelizing new products within the company

Building product road-maps, particularly technology road-maps

Developing all products on schedule, working to a critical path

Ensuring products are within optimal price margins and up to specifications

Ensuring products are manufacturable, and optimizing cost of components and procedures.

Inbound and Outbound Product Management[edit]

Many refer to inbound (product development) and outbound (product marketing) functions. [4]
Inbound product management (aka inbound marketing) is the "radar" of the organization and involves absorbing information
like customer research, competitive intelligence, industry analysis, trends, economic signals and competitive activity [5] as well
as documenting requirements and setting product strategy.[6]
In comparison, outbound activities are focused on distributing or pushing messages, training sales people, go to market
strategies and communicating messages through channels like advertising, PR and events. [5][6]
In many organizations the inbound and outbound functions are performed by the same person. [7]

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As these terms are under discussion, another way of looking at these activities is upstream and downstream product
management, where 'upstream' is referring to any activity that helps to define, create, or improve the product, whilst
'downstream' refers to any activity that promotes the product. This avoids the confusion with the term "inbound marketing"
which nowadays clearly refers to a way of doing downstream product management, referring to 'making the product
accessible', i.e. it can be found by suspects and prospects (compared to 'outbound marketing', where the product is 'pushed'
in front of the suspect or prospect). The confusion stems mainly from the mix up between the term "Marketing" as a
discipline, comprising Product Management, MarCom, etc. and using the same term 'Marketing' as a synonym for
'Promotion' or 'advertising', i.e. taking a product to the market (i.e. 'downstream').
It comes as a surprise that this confusion and ambiguity is hard to understand- because if you name the main (value
creating) departments in todays organizations, you can clearly assign to Sales, R&D, Operations, and Marketing their
repective core funtions and areas of responsibility. The core function of Marketing, that differentiates it from Sales,
Operations, and R&D is the ownership of the Marketing Mix (= 4 P: Product, Place, Price, Promotion). Still, many
organizations put under 'Marketing' only Market Communications (MarCom), which is just the operational end of marketing
and only a subset of what 'Promotion' comprises. From a Product Managment perspective, MarCom is a supporting function
(like IT, HR, Controlling etc.). In organozations, where the Product Management is weak or not existent, it's task are taken
over by the other departments (i.e. sales defines the distribution ('Place'), operations defines the prices, R&D defines the
product, MarCom decides on the promotion.

Jeremy Justice, 10 Years of Product Management Experience at companies such as Intel and Nokia.
14.9k Views

My experience at Nokia:
Program Manager:
At Nokia, the role of the a Program Manager goes beyond that of the typical Project Manager. While they are held
accountable for schedules and ship dates, their day-to-day job involves coordinating across all the functional areas that
report into them. For the launch of mobile phones, this would include representatives from (generically speaking):
Product Management, Hardware, Software, Testing, Quality, After-Market Support, etc.
The Program Manager also acts as a management level to help clear through disagreements and open issues. Typically,
there are problems that require high-level management support or even just the support of resource streams. The
Program Manager must then work through these problems to make sure they are appropriately staffed and that open
issues and roadblocks are quickly resolved.
Product Manager:
If the Program Manager is the Captain of the ship, the Product Manager is the Navigator. In typical fashion, the PM
acts as the interface between sales/marketing and internal development teams. He/She is also a member of the
Program Manager's team.
Typical responsibilities involve defining and clarifying requirements, working to fine-tune design intent, managing
product launch expectations of regional teams, and developing base-line content to be used for localization. As much
as possible, they are expected to be experts on their customers: end-consumers and operators. As such, they should be
heavily involved in driving these consumers wants/needs into the upcoming products. The PM also owns the
development of the business case, so in making product modifications and dealing with schedule changes, they must

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also account for this in their financial projections.

Product Planner:
This wasn't asked for in the original question, but it needs to be pointed out. The Planner role is similar to a Product
Manager, except their job is to focus solely on the creation of new product concepts. This includes market targetting,
design, pricing, business case creation, etc. The Planner does not take the product fully to launch though, as they
typically will hand over the concept to a Product Manager for completion.
Project Manager
In my tenure, it was rare to see someone with the title "Project Manager". This is primarily due to the fact that
everyone's role in a product development team was in some sense a project manager. They each had schedules and
resources to manage. I suspect other big companies are like this as well, especially ones that have distributed
resources. This forces each primary member to get involved more heavily with traditional Project Mgr responsibilities.
Jason Silverstein, Technology & product development.

11.7k Views Upvoted by Steven Walling, Product manager, 5 years and counting

These are some very good answers. I will take a simple approach given my time at Yahoo! & my own company from
1998-2007.
Projects have a beginning and an end. They are distinct efforts.
Programs are collections of projects and possibly partial products that collectively result in a unique management need
of timing and priority.
Product is the strategic relationship between company and customer that is the reason you have projects and
programs. You must have a business and a leader to know what's important and to manage all the people who will try
to help or veer the product.
Scotty Bevill, Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it's the peace within the storm... As ...
6.9k Views

SUMMARY OF AUTHOR
Scotty Bevill is the Founder & CEO of Bevill Edge, specializing in organization tranformation, PMO deployment,
professional training, and a Project Management Institute Registered Education Provider.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Due to the agile movement in technology, we have to break product management into two categories. The question
asks about technology companies and thus indicates an interest in software product versus a "finished goods"
scenario. I'll briefly describe the three and try to keep it simple enough to make the point. I am specifically going to
avoid linking to wikipedia and provide context here.
Product Management is the lifecycle and business management of 'what' products get done. The
finished good of a technology company (e.g. COTS (Commercial Off-the-shelf)). This product type is a consumable
by all definitions. It's often iteratively developed and released with versions, support, and/or maintenance. Another
type of product is the non-software finished good that could be electronics, rugs, cups, pans, cars, or just about any
other consumable, repair part, or repairable you can imagine.) Still the process is the same for gathering metrics,
planning the product, and managing the product.

When these products are assessed for a "cradle-2-grave" they are put through an NPD process
involving cross-fuctional teams from supply chain, IT, engineering, marketing, and lately, the targeted
audiicne. These products are determined and costed for profitability. This process handles the sourcing

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of material, determines costs and breaks the product into it's components for the purpose of determining
(make v. buy scenarios)
Once given a green light for production and management, the product enters the process called the
PLM or Product Lifecycle Management Process. This process can be thought of as the 'big picture' process
of a product's shelf-life. Here Risk is managed, change orders (engineering, design, etc...) are implemented
and determined. Customer feedback loops are engaged in large ERP systems or product management
systems and used to weigh the cost/benefit of product modification, recall information, and defect
management. You will find in this process, the cost of quality and governance as it pertains to the
management of a product.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Program Management is the governance and 'how' work can get done. Unfortunately it's often referred to
as the 'police' of projects, but again this is just a circumstance. We must once again take into consideration the
question refers to large technology companies. In non-tech companies, the program management office can mean
many things dependent on it's industry so here, I'll discuss what has come to be known as the Program Management
Process/Office or (PMO)

PMO is responsible for standardization. Understanding deliverables as required, conditionally required,

discretionary, etc... This ensure that all work in the business is adhering to the mission, the strategy, the
policy, the governance, and producing the necessary document history for the business and the work it
performs.
In technology specically you will find lower level governing bodies such as the Project Office, or still
adequately named the Program Office. Each of these offices serve similar functions and you'll find they
operate in tandem of one another as the business rolls up from the work on the bottom to the ideals at the
top. Thus ensuring consistency in message, approach, etc... I'll discuss more about this and it's
relationships in Project Management below
Program Management is about coordination of multiple groups as they align to a greater whole. For
example. If we were a major digital services provider with hardware and software running on a platform,
say a cell phone, it would be the program office or embedded project offices that manage how that work
comes together. One project office would manage how the hardware gets manufactured (made) or acquired
(buy) see product management above. Another project office would be managing the software
development, operating systems release schedule, bug fixes, component development, and applications (if
they weren't open source development SDKs and more complex sales and development models)
So Program and Project Offices bring all things together in very large scale implementations that would
otherwise be to difficult to implement and provide the "means" to which the work gets done by governance
and policy.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management is the action of getting the work done. This work is the most familiar of the three and
has more professionals engaged in this work. Some working on project aren't even aware of their impact to the project
as are just tasked with work, but are none-the-less valuable to it's success.

Project Management is the process by which the work gets broken down and then put in to the actionable
work packages. Projects have their own Management Plans internally that outline the requirements from
the Program/Project Offices and are used to determine some of the following (not limited to them):

How to purchase hardware, resources (people), materials, etc...

Change Control Measures (How, How Long, Process, etc...)

Budgets, Approaches, Measures of success

Schedules, Phases, Deadlines, and Deliverables

Individual teams are organized, planned, and the work is broken down, approved and set in motion with
timelines, committment, release dates, etc...
Projects can deliver a whole product, part of a product, or simply develop the code for a software product. These
teams are the actual work getting done and delivered, whether it's an "agile" project or a "traditional" project.

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Aravind Gopalakrishnan, part-time philosopher, full-time slacker.

3k Views

It depends very much on the company and division you work in. However, in general if we were to consider a
tech/product company:
A product manager makes sure that the right product is being built.
A project manager makes sure that the work is being built efficiently.
A program manager makes sure that the product creation aligns with the company's long-term strategies and oversees
several projects.

Shannon Lewis, 15+ years of experience as a software product manager.

3.9k Views

Interesting that Microsoft classifies what I would consider to be a Product Marketing Manager as a Product Manager.
I think of Product Managers as a more classic role like you have defined at Amazon. I think of a Product Manager as
the General Manager for their product.
I have done both Product Management, Project Management and Program Management in my career. Here's how
each role was defined for me.
Product Management - I consider the Product Manager as the General Manager of his/her product. He/she is
responsible for setting the strategic direction of the product including: features, pricing, product life cycle, P&L etc.
He/she should be the voice of the customer. Works with development to build the right product. Works with sales to
help educate them on selling the product, supports them as needed. Works with Marketing on product messaging.
Works with finance on P&L and any financials related to the product. Basically wears multiple hats.
Project Manager - manages the delivery of a project (technical or non-technical) . Worries about schedule, budget etc.
For example: the delivery of product X v2.1.
Program Manager - has more cross functional responsibilities than a project manager. More of a "global role".
Worries about the big picture. Product delivery, marketing campaign to go with the launch, making sure sales is
educated, all parties that need to be updated are (system updates (maybe part numbers, pricing etc).
I do realize that the roles of these positions vary depending on the company. But this is how it was broken out at the
companies I have worked at.
Lakshmi Peri, Entrepreneurial Program Manager, Strategic execution expert, Coach and Author
2.9k Views
In my experience and knowledge the roles are as below
Product Manager - Responsible for the product vision, requirements, market needs, business goals and ROI
Program Manager - Responsible for
- Executing to the product vision and strategy end to end

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- Stakeholder management
- Gap analysis
- Risk Management
- Program Communications
- Building highly productive teams
Project Manager
Responsible for
- Time boxed initiative execution
- Project communications
- Schedule
- Deliverables
- Surfacing the issues and mitigation plan
Pamela Almoustine Magee Bradford
4.7k Views

A Project Manager manages projects vertically with a tactical precision that focuses on the nuts and bolts of a
particular project always with the end in sight, meeting specs and completing tasks.
A Program Manager manages horizontally across many projects, with a strategic goal in mind, focusing on the bigger
picture. In essence the projects themselves are the tasks to be managed.
Venkata Rahul, Extensive experience in Enterprise Planning products
1.4k Views

A very concise answer.

Project managers handle individual projects (definition of projects et al are already mentioned in the other answers
herein).
Programs are at a higher level than projects. Projects may be at the team level or department level within an
organization while programs are much larger (in a sense, groups of projects). The Program management oversees all
the current projects of the organization and ensures their alignment to the business goals.
Product management is completely different from both. It is mainly about what your company offers to sell, how these
offers fit into the market, evolution of the products (and hand-holding them through the life cycle), competitor
analysis, gap management(feature gap), product pricing, new product innovation and management. In a sense, for
product divisions, Product Management teams are the interface of the development teams with the consumers of the
products.

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