The difference between the product manager and project manager, just read this one!

"What do product managers and project managers do?"
"I want to be a product manager. Does that suit you?"
"How many years can a programmer be a project manager?"
"Which is more promising, product manager or project manager?

To answer these questions, it is necessary to know the functions and differences between the product manager and the project manager. This article explains three aspects.

I Conceptually

The Product Manager is a position in an enterprise specifically responsible for product management. The product manager is responsible for market research and determines which products to develop, which technologies to choose from, and which business models to choose according to users' needs. Product managers also coordinate research and development, marketing, operations, etc., determine and organize the implementation of the corresponding product strategy, and a series of related product management activities according to the product life cycle.

The Project Manager is the leader of the project team. His primary responsibility is to lead the project team members to complete all the project work on time and in good quality within the budget so that the project can meet the standard requirements. For this purpose, the project manager must lead a series of project planning, organization, and control activities to achieve the project objectives.

As you can see, although the product manager and the project manager are both PMs, this PM is different from that PM. In various roles in project management, one is responsible for the product, and the other is responsible for the project.

Product Manager -- Endorses the product

The product manager is the product leader and the full-time manager responsible for the timely completion and release of the product. A role in tracking services from product demand gathering, product conception and design, to product development and freedom, and even marketing. Product managers have different responsibilities in different product life cycles, divided into product r&d managers, product operation managers, and product marketing managers.

However, in ordinary companies, the division of product managers is not so clear. The operation and promotion after the product is launched generally taken charge of by the operation and marketing departments. The product manager can give strategic suggestions instead of a separate product manager position. Therefore, the product manager referred to by us generally refers to the r&d manager of the product. All product managers referred to in this article are R&D managers.

Project Manager - Responsible for the project

The project manager can be understood as the person in charge of the project development, responsible for the progress of the project and the final presentation of the results (different project managers handle various projects, the project manager is responsible for the project director, in some small companies, the project manager can also be the overall project leader, responsible for multiple projects). To ensure that the project is completed on time, quality and quantity, the project manager needs to evaluate the project workload, formulate the phase plan, plan and adjust the allocation of time, personnel, and other available resources.

The difference between product manager and project manager

Source: zhuanlan.zhihu.com

II From the job content

The different roles they play determine the inevitable difference in the work content. What does a product manager do? We refer to a job description for a product manager on a recruitment website.

Product Manager Job Responsibilities:

1. Participate in formulating or determining the company's strategic planning, products, or product lines.
2. Collect and investigate relevant market demand, user demand, and product demand.
3. Analyze the development status and trend of the market, industry, and competitors, and provide a reference for decision-making.
4. Do product planning, write relevant product requirement documents or business plans, etc.
5. Participate in product design, including interaction design, visual design, front-end development, copy-writing design, etc.
6. Coordinated project implementation, including communication, meeting, and project management.
7. Participate in project acceptance and feedback.
8. Responsible for product release management.

9. Participate in or be responsible for the operation and promotion of products.

The job responsibilities of a product manager on this recruitment website have fully described the job content product manager; I will make a summary, mainly including listening to users' needs and demand analysis. Competitive product analysis and research product development trends. Responsible for product function definition, planning, and design. Coordinate all resources to complete product development and launch within a certain period; And participate in the product operation and maintenance after the launch. As can be seen, the work of a product manager is around the product (specifically, around the product requirements), that is, through a variety of knowledge, experience, tools, and means to achieve product planning and design.

Source: zhuanlan.zhihu.com

Let's look at the responsibilities of the project manager:

1. Responsible for project management of the company's Internet platform and intelligent production and manufacturing system.
2. Responsible for communicating with customers, quickly understanding customer needs, and determining systematic solutions.
3. Responsible for the design of technical framework and determination of technical scheme of the project, and coordinated and dealt with the technical difficulties related to the project.
4. Lead and manage the project team and participate in the project's overall development.
5. Responsible for designing, refining, and implementing the project development plan and completing the scheduled target on time and with good quality.
6. Lead project team members to complete the design, development, and testing of related software.

7. According to the development schedule, reasonably arrange the progress of personnel and coordinate various resources to ensure the smooth progress of the project.

Although a product manager is called a "manager," in fact, he is not a functional manager in the real sense. Still, only the job title (product position and product assistant, product specialist, etc.), there is no team under the general product handling. A huge difference between the project manager and product manager is that the project manager, as the head of the project team and having excellent development ability, also needs to "manage people."

Similarly, we summarize the job responsibilities of the project manager above. The work content of the project manager includes project development plan, goal setting, project task decomposition and determination of the priority and priority of the task; Assign project team members, estimate working hours, and overcome related technical difficulties; The category of "managing people" mainly includes member incentive and performance appraisal; In addition, project managers also need to communicate, negotiate and exchange information with superiors and even customers. As a team leader, the project manager needs to coordinate and balance time, quality, and cost and strive to achieve the maximum output of the project with minimum input.

project manager & product manager

Source: zhuanlan.zhihu.com

III In terms of ability requirements

Product and project managers belong to different job categories and work contents, so they have additional ability requirements. Again, look at the product manager and project management requirements from the two job postings above.

Product Manager Qualifications:

1. At least 3 years of experience in Internet product design, good Internet product planning ability, good interactive and visual design ability, good Internet technology understanding, and specific product operation ability.
2. Excellent product design, logical thinking, and document writing skills.
3. Good at listening to users, sensitive to data, good at statistical data analysis;
4. Clear logic, effectively establishing product strategy, market positioning, and product core value.
5. Good communication skills, teamwork ability, and sense of responsibility.
6. Good learning ability, ability to analyze and solve problems independently.

Project Manager Qualifications:

1. At least 3 years experience in software development, significant in computer, electronics, communication, software development, etc.
2. Familiar with project management theory and methods, familiar with IATF16949 and other quality management systems, management process operation process.
3. Skilled in using project management software, writing relevant project documents or reports independently, leading project personnel to skillfully use project management methods, and completing various tasks and indicators of the project.
4. Able to write project documents or reports independently, including problem recording and analysis.
5. severe and active in work, a strong sense of responsibility, integrity, strong learning ability, and initiative.
6. Good communication and presentation skills, good organization and coordination, and management skills.

From the recruitment information, we can see that in addition to complex requirements such as experience and professional ability, product managers and project managers are also required to have a variety of capacities; that is to say, these two positions belong to comprehensive talent positions. Let's also summarize the capabilities of these two.

Source: wemedia.ifeng.com

Competencies required by product managers:

1. Logical thinking ability
Product design is a very creative work, which requires product managers must have strong logical thinking ability and rich imagination to achieve product definition and planning design.

2. Predictive ability
Only by having a confident grasp and forecasting ability of the development trend of products and industries can product managers create products that meet the market and user needs in today's rapidly changing Internet products.

3. Ability to analyze and judge
A significant task of a product manager is to analyze and mine a large amount of market data and user needs, summarize helpful information from massive data and extract essential needs from performance needs.

4. Communication skills
It includes the ability to speak and write. "Speaking" generally refers to communication and coordination skills, including communication and coordination with customers, R&D teams, design teams, and company leaders;

"Writing," including the ability to write documents and design and display prototypes, can present the product intention to other people (leaders, customers, developers, etc.).

The project manager needs to possess:

1. Professional knowledge and skills
First of all, the project manager must be the backbone of the technical team. Secondly, it is necessary to have professional project management knowledge to formulate project plans, control project costs, and ensure quality.

2. The execution
The results-oriented project development work requires the project manager to have strong execution ability and even requires the team members under the project manager's leadership to have strong execution ability.

3. The leadership
As a team leader, the project manager must have specific leadership ability, motivate members, inspire morale, give full play to their potential, mobilize their enthusiasm for work, and work together to complete the project tasks.

4. Communication and negotiation skills
In addition to communication and collaboration within the team, project managers also need to report project progress and communicate with customers. Therefore, strong project communication and negotiation skills are a must for project managers.

5. Resilience
The project manager needs to deal with feedback and track the problems in the project implementation process in time. Especially when emergencies come, it is necessary to have strong adaptability and the ability to solve troubles and solve problems quickly.

I think these skills are necessary to be a good product manager/project manager. They also need to think independently, learn quickly, and organize. In addition, the ability to use tools is also an ability that cannot be ignored. Proficiency in project management methods and software as mentioned above in project Manager qualifications.

In conclusion, although product managers and project managers have different work contents, areas of responsibility, and abilities, it is still difficult to distinguish them strictly. The two are indispensable two critical roles in project management. They are closely combined in practical work and need to cooperate to ensure that products are launched on time with good quality and quantity.