I sometimes hear and get asked the difference between a Project Manager and a Product Manager. Whilst both roles are similar and have some overlap, they both focus on different stages of planning within a business. A Product is a digital or physical entity that can be continuously worked on. A house is a product. Whereas renovating the kitchen is a project. A project has a start and end date. A product is made up of projects that help improve a product. Within both disciplines, there are of course (well-documented) plans. Whilst similar, there are differences between project and product manager plans.
Main objectives of a project plan
A project is a set of tasks and objectives that has a start and end date to create a unique product, service or result.
All projects require planning before the start of a sprint or development cycle to ensure the goals and objectives can be delivered successfully – on time, within budget, within scope and to an agreed standard of quality.
You can describe a project plan using a Project Charter, or a project initiation document (PID). A charter contains the problem statement, business case, goals, approved timeline, deliverables (scope), what is not in scope and the key stakeholders.
A PID is similar to a charter, however, it is more in-depth and can allow you to write more in detail regarding the objectives and goals to include assumptions, constraints, benefits, outcomes, risks and how they can be mitigated, stakeholders, roles and also the desired outcomes with links to the designs.
The main outcome of a project is to work towards a set end date by working with the relevant stakeholders and product owner.
Main objectives of a product plan
A product requires a vision – the goals of the product and how it aligns with the company’s values and strategies. A product owner and product manager can outline this at the start of a brand new project; i.e. a new website or app. This should also be looked at on an annual basis. Goals and KPIs are key factors to consider.
The product roadmap is key to product managers. This details a view of product features that create a product vision. With a product roadmap for a website you might include the following:
- new payment system
- chatbot feature
- Ai feature
- new backup/restore app
- Influencer collaboration portal
- Black Friday launch layout
- Create adverts on LinkedIn
Release planning is then critical for product planning. What features need to be released by what date and what are the steps? Product planning requires more time for researching and coming up with ideal solutions before tasks can be created.
To conclude
As both a project and a product manager there are things that overlap, such as speaking with developers, designers and QA-testing. But as a product manager, the work was aligned with being a visionary and aligning forces with the marketing team, not just the development and IT teams. Documentation is needed, however, I found that it did not need to be as in-depth as a document a project manager would write. These are things where project and product manager plans differ.
Remember, a project is a temporary solution (as stated previously), whereas a product is a tangible or real object that is created from the result of a project or multiple projects. A product plan requires features and functions. A project plan includes the required work, scope and depending on the document, cost/budget. A project is something that can be delivered, whereas a product is something that is ongoing until it is deemed not so.
