John De Goes’ blog

In product development, two role denominations coexist, and often confuse inexperienced teammates: the product owner and the product manager. Both roles are instrumental in guiding the development team and ensuring that the product meets the desired goals and objectives. However, despite aiming for the same goals, there are key distinctions between the two positions. This article outlines the similarities and differences between a product owner and a product manager. It highlights the unique contributions each role brings to the product development process.

Definition of Roles

By definition, a product owner is a role in a Scrum team, while the product manager is a position in a product team. The Scrum framework emphasizes the importance of having a product owner to ensure that the development team has a clear understanding of the requirements and goals. The product owner’s primary responsibility is to represent stakeholders and translate their requirements into actionable user stories and acceptance criteria, organized in a prioritized backlog. However, Scrum doesn’t directly address how to achieve this prioritized backlog. There’s no mention of product discovery, user research, UX research, or any other artifact or stage to get from a concept to a product requirement.

On the other hand, a product manager’s role is broader and encompasses a wider range of responsibilities. They are responsible for the overall direction, vision, and success of a product. They work closely with stakeholders, customers, and development teams to gather requirements, user feedback, and market trends. Product managers also create and manage a wide range of artifacts, such as product roadmaps, requirements documents, and wireframes, to facilitate the development and management of the product backlog. Moreover, product managers are not limited by their team’s methodology, which gives them more freedom.

Collaboration with Stakeholders

Both the product owner and product manager work closely with stakeholders to gather requirements and feedback. However, the product owner’s focus is on translating those requirements into user stories that can be understood and implemented by the team. The product owner acts as a liaison between the stakeholders and the development team, ensuring that the team understands the needs and expectations of the stakeholders.

On the other hand, the product manager takes a more strategic approach. They collaborate with stakeholders to understand the broader business objectives and align the product roadmap accordingly. The product manager is responsible for setting the product vision and ensuring that the development team stays focused on delivering value to customers. This vision is often mistaken for a need to challenge every idea stakeholders present, but that’s a topic for another article.

Backlog Management

In Scrum, there is no specific guidance on how the backlog should be populated. The product owner is responsible for ensuring that the backlog contains only the highest priority items, as determined by the stakeholders. The product owner collaborates with the stakeholders to prioritize the backlog and ensures that the development team has a clear understanding of the work to be done.

Product managers, on the other hand, have a wider range of artifacts at their disposal to manage the product backlog. They may use techniques such as user story mapping, personas, and wireframes to discover the product gradually and create product requirements. These tools help product managers to visualize the product, communicate requirements effectively, and make data-driven decisions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while the product owner and product manager have distinct roles and responsibilities, they share a common goal of creating a successful product. The product owner focuses on the translation of requirements into actionable user stories, while the product manager takes a more comprehensive view of the product, including strategy, vision, and backlog management. It is important to note that not all product managers are product owners, and not all product owners are product managers, as each role brings its own perspective to the development process. By understanding the differences and similarities, companies can optimize their product development efforts and harness the expertise of both roles to achieve optimal results.