Introduction
More often than not, the terms ‘Product Owner’ and the ‘Project Manager’ are used interchangeably. While in some organizations, the same person may be the Product Owner-cum-Project Manager, in many others the roles are taken on by different people. There are certain overlaps, yes, in the responsibilities and functions but majorly it is different.
So, what is the difference between the Product Owner vs. Project Manager? One thing is firmed up – both the roles are managerial roles that work with their teams towards achieving one end – deliver the product or the project aligned with the organizational goals to achieve the bottom line. Let’s begin by understanding who is a Project Manager and a Product Owner.
Product Owner vs Project Manager
A Product Owner in a Scrum environment is a person who is committed to optimizing the product value. He is responsible for ensuring that the Development Team performs at their optimal best; maintains the Product Backlog and order items from it in a manner that the product delivers the best value to customers.
A Project Manager is accountable for a project – from the scratch till delivery. His responsibility is also to ensure maximum output of the team while also ensuring that the project is planned, executed, and delivered as per desired standards and goals, within the stipulated time and budget.
Difference between the Product Owner and Project Manager
Characteristics | Product Owner | Project Manager |
Functional Responsibilities | The Product Owner works in close conjunction with the product team and manager to prepare the product roadmap. | The Project Manager prepares the project roadmap. |
The Product Owner works with the Product Development Team to ensure that the product matches up to the expectations of users. | The Project Manager works across multiple and cross-functional teams to ensure that the project is delivered as per the defined scope, goal, and timeline. | |
The Product Owner’s top priority is to prepare and maintain the Product Backlog and create User Stories. | The Project Manager’s role is to oversee the project at the macro and micro levels. | |
ROI is an important goal for the Product Owner because he is not only responsible for the business case, but also the results and the outcomes. | A Project Manager also has a contribution to make towards the ROI but he has to consult with the sponsor or the project board to see if the project needs to be continued or not. | |
In Scrum, the Product Owner is the person who is accountable for the failure or the success of the product. | The Project Manager is never liable for the project result – failure or success. | |
The Product Owner is not involved in the working of the Development Team on day-to-day functioning in terms of allocating work and work plan. | The Project Manager is responsible for distributing and managing the work within his team. | |
Know-how & Knowledge | This role needs to gather as many details as possible related to User Stories and document the same. | Has thorough knowledge of project planning and implementation. Has experience in delivering projects as per deadlines. |
Needs to have the technical expertise to be part of Scrum meetings in an Agile environment. They are also responsible for managing Sprints. | Needs to have vast experience to estimate time, costing, and resolving issues related to resource allocation and scope of the project. | |
Teams that they work with | A Product Owner works throughout with the technical team – development, operations, and engineering. | A Project Manager needs to work with an extensive network of teams – keep them motivated and pepped up for meeting deadlines within the mentioned costs. |
This role needs to interact with the engineering and software Development Team to ensure that work is happening as per the Product Backlog and User Stories. | This role needs to interact with different teams and coordinate to ensure an optimal complete product experience. | |
Focus | A Product Owner has a long-term involvement with the product. This is in the sense that he needs to consider the product’s entire lifetime rather than look at the short-term fulfillment of goals. | A Project Manager is involved as long as the project is there. |
A Product Owner needs to work on maximizing the product – so, he can never work on compromising the quality of the product even if the work extends beyond the timeline. | A Project Manager is more focused on ensuring that the project gets over within the given timeline, even if there needs to be a trade-off between time and quality. | |
Skills | Product Owners need to act as a CEO or entrepreneur because they need to be visionaries, take ownership, ensure that the product is developed as per specs and that everything is done effectively | One of the primary skills of Project Managers is that they need to be really awesome in time management. The project deadline is their bread and butter, in many ways. |
Product Owners have to be tough and decisive – in the interest of the product, they will rub few the wrong ways but that is absolutely fine. | Working with a cross-functional team, Project Managers need to be extremely good at negotiating with Stakeholders across the organization. | |
Control | A Product Owner is in complete control of the product since it gets developed as per his wish list. | A Project Manager works on someone else’s wish list though he has the power to make changes to the wish list. |
Flexibility | The Product Owner has greater flexibility in terms of finances and budget and the scope of work. The time, however, is fixed. | The Project Manager, on the other hand, has a tight and fixed budget, time, and scope. |
Taking the Product Owner vs Project Manager a step ahead, it is important to note that there are many similarities and often overlap between both the roles. What are these?
Skills – both the roles require leadership skills because each of them is responsible for leading a team, motivate team members, be available for team members, and so on. They also need to be extremely good with effective communication and need to be diligently organized in their work to achieve the best results.
- Both the roles are focused on building a product or an entity from the scratch and as per a pre-determined wish list.
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Conclusion
Now that we know the difference between the Product Owner and Project Manager, you should be able to realize the role that suits your qualification, expertise, experience, personality, and preference. Accordingly, you can go ahead and take up professional courses to gain more knowledge and become a certified Product Owner or Project Manager.
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