

Understands consumer needs and relays them to the product team But generally, a product manager does the following: In smaller organizations, a product manager might do more hands-on work, such as market research, or even some project management.īecause product manager is a relatively new role and can change from company to company and team to team, specific tasks can vary widely. This means they set the vision of a product, direct any updates, and make sure the product is filling customer needs until the product is retired. Unlike project management, product management usually doesn't have a clear beginning and end.Īt larger organizations, product managers can take on high-level work like managing a team. What does a product manager do?Ī product manager is in charge of a product from the beginning of its lifecycle to its end.
#Product owner vs product manager software
A project's goal could be to create or maintain a product-like construct a house, or roll out a new software update. A project, on the other hand, is a set of tasks completed to achieve an outcome.

Products can be physical, like furniture or clothing, or digital, like an app, or a video feature on a website. A product refers to any service or item that an organization creates to serve a customer need. It might help if we distinguish products from projects. So if the product manager is a strategic thinker, the project manager is more of a doer. While a product manager sets the vision, goals, and business trajectory of a product, a project manager leads the many projects to make those goals a reality.

Product managers and project managers often work together, they have distinct roles.
