Project Management or Product Management? It’s all about mindset.

Firstly, I would start with the differences in definition between these two concepts. “Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge, and experience to achieve specific project objectives. It has a defined deadline (start and end), and therefore defined scope and resources.”

So, Project Management has 3 essential elements that define success Time, Scope, and Budget. I can tell you well-known companies (Nokia, Blockbuster, Motorola, Blackberry, etc.) that for years they did just that, were on time, within budget and scope but anyway they lost. This reminds me of the last speech of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop who said: We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow we lost. Is it enough to be on time, budget, and scope?

Let’s look at it differently and treat the idea of our business as a product. A product is considered successful based on how the consumer reacts to it. This means that it isn’t an internal factor like time, scope, and money (something that we have decided) that makes it successful. Rather, it is the value that it gives to the consumer, which is an external factor and something that we cannot control.

Definition of Product Management based on my research, I will sum it up and state only the core. Product Management is a business function focused on maximizing the value of your product. And the way to maximize the value of the product cannot be predefined from the start, but step after step through sprints and by delivering value to the customer in each Sprint.

This is what Product Management Role is all about, facing customers, shareholders, employees, at the end of each sprint and translating their feedback into the next sprint, even if that means changing entirely from what was meant in the beginning. It might happen that by the end of the sprint to pivot to a whole new product or simply make improvements. Differently from project management who has a fixed scope, product management is more changeable and flexible based on the feedback received.

For companies with in-house teams and products, I would always suggest the Product Manager role as I have done myself with my own company. What about agencies? Maybe the project manager is the appropriate role for them? At the end of the day each company asks itself; what do my customers value? Is it projects or products? I would love to listen to your point of view on the matter.

Let’s get in touch.