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For most of us, the role of a Project Manager is quite well defined. But how many of us know the role a project manager plays in an Agile project? Some other questions that often boggle budding Agilists are, exactly how different a product owner is different from a project manager? And are these roles interchangeable? It is important to understand Project Manager and Product Owner Responsibilities for better differentiation. It is important to understand Project Manager and Product Owner Responsibilities for better differentiation. To learn more, check out the certification for Project Management Professional (PMP) and the CSPO certification.
This blog is an attempt to help you learn more about the Project Manager Vs Product Owner role and how these two fit into a modern project setting. Know more about project description and conflict management.
| Project Manager | Product Owner | |
| Type of Project | Waterfall | Agile |
| Accountable for | Project Management | Effective backlog management |
| Owns | Project | Product Features |
| Responsibility | Coordination | Requirement’s definition |
| Focus | Internal | External and internal |
| Stakeholder interaction | Is not responsible for effective communication within the project team and with external stakeholders | Responsible for creating a communication link between stakeholders and team |
| Team support | Guides team on project management tools or configuration management | Guides team on agile tools and processes |
| Quality | Is not responsible for ensuring that the product quality meets user needs | Responsible for delivering quality to the end user and guiding teams toward achieving it |
| Feedback | Makes adjustments in the product vision and strategy according to customer feedback. | Makes sure that the decisions made in the organisation are shaped according to the feedback received. |
| Strategy | Plans the goal and makes sure that value is being delivered to the customer. | Is responsible for business outcomes and strategic roadmaps. |
| Risk | Focuses long-term on the ongoing support for product capabilities and value streams. | Stays focused on the immediate sprint and release. |
The product owner is responsible for maximising the product value, representing the stakeholders, prioritizing the backlog, empowering the team, maintaining Agile and Scrum processes and defining the product vision.
In recent times, the Product Owner has become an irreplaceable part of an agile project team. Their worth has been validated by their role in driving product value and enhancing stakeholder satisfaction.
“The product owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the development team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, scrum teams, and individuals.”—Scrum Guide
A good product manager can be a boon to a team and conversely, a bad product manager can be disastrous to a team. A good product manager can set clear goals, define strategy and help the team to build the right things.
An effective product manager manages the project and at no point in time transfers the responsibility of managing parts of the project to the development team.
The development team’s sole focus should be on building a good product. The Product Owner should make sure that the team is proceeding in the right direction and the product is shaping up correctly.
The product owner plays an important part in the project as the person primarily responsible for prioritizing the scope, cost and deadlines of the product.
Most of us would have at some point in our careers worked under a project manager. A project manager’s role is extensive and includes everything right from successful initiation, planning, design to project closure.
As projects get more complex and pan global, the need for project managers has grown sharply in the past years, as they, with their expertise and skills are able to steer projects to success.
Project managers are organized, passionate and goal-oriented, understand what projects have in common, and their strategic role in how organizations succeed, learn and change--PMI®
The responsibilities of a Project Manager include:
A project manager is responsible for leading a project from the start till the end, which includes planning, execution, and delivering the project on time, and on schedule and budget. They also have the responsibility to manage the people and resources, and work with the team to make sure that the desired value is being delivered in the correct order.
It is essential that a project manager has a combination of skills, including the ability to ask questions, resolve conflicts, understand unstated assumptions, and manage people around. The project manager as the PMI states is a change agent who ‘makes project goals their own, and use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose within the project team.’
In many organizations there is a very fine line between the project manager and the product owner. In fact, you may often find one carrying out the responsibilities of the other. These two roles have many responsibilities that overlap. To progress in your career in Scrum, enroll in the CSPO certification course.
Top Cities where Knowledgehut Conduct CSPO Certification Training Course Online
The roles of a Product Owner overlap that of the Project Manager. However, a Product Owner is authorized to work on prioritization according to requirements, having domain expertise. Project Managers don’t have the authority to do so.
Apart from this, Product Owners lack the required project management skills. Hence, it can be said that a Product Owner is a Project Manager who is responsible for delegating the project team to a Scrum Master, while at the same time is responsible for the success of the project and project environment.
Which one is better for you depends on your current role, your aspirations and your educational background. With either of these roles, getting certified is a safe bet to ensure ample opportunities and a lucrative career.
The Project Management Professional Certification (PMP)® for Project Managers and Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) credential for Product Owners are apt certifications for these two roles.
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