What Product Management is not

I get asked many times what I do for a living. Depending on who is asking (or how I feel 😊  ), I give 3 answers:

I’m a Product Manager.

I help to build software solutions and lead cross-functional teams that build them.

I help to build fitting software products well.

Often, those 3 responses are followed up by different questions or remarks:

Product, what is product management o?

Oh, so you’re a software developer?

Oh, Project Manager, Nice.

While I usually take my time to explain what product management is, how novel the practice is and how it generally fits into a typical company (mostly software development in my experience), I find that most people understand better when I contrast the practice with what they already know – i.e “what product management is not” and “what is product management is not just”, before they understand what it is. Hence, a few things that typically seem like product management but are not are below:

Product Management is not …

1. Managing resources for the delivery of project or activity that has an expected start and end – i.e. Project Management

This is a classic interview question from me, which you must get right. Product management has nothing to do with managing timelines and resources for a project. They have little to do with projects. While resources are factors that a product manager will consider in making decisions about the product direction or in charting a course of action, the Product Manager is not responsible for managing the timelines and budget and team resources to deliver on the product or within a project.

What mostly prevails –

Many organizations have the same person playing the role of a Product Manager and a project manager, either because they are a small organization or because they do not know better; I’ve also seen organizations also put up job openings for a Product Manager and assessing the job description of from the first conversation, you can tell that they really need a Project Manager or even a Business Analyst. I have seen organizations consciously use the “Product Manager” brand to attract talent and tell them later on that the role function is for a Project Manager.

Best Practice –

It is advised to separate both roles in an organization that can afford to and from experience, I can tell you that it is not easy being both at the same time. Besides having to do the workload of 2 persons, you always have to make a tradeoff between resource (time, people, budget) management and thinking out a great product’s direction strategically, which may not be a resource-friendly activity. Many times, it feels like you’re compromising on your practice when you make those trade-offs by saying “oh well, we need to explore the possibilities of being able to do XYZ” while your project manager brain is thinking “… but I have a time constraint”.

It is best to separate the project management function from the product management, if an organization can and when the need arises. However, if for some reason you find yourself playing both roles, I advise that you recognize the difference and be very aware of when you are playing whichever role for clarity and sanity.

2. Gathering requirements for a project and building technical specifications – i.e. Business Analysis

Similar to the reason above, product management is not business analysis. Someone once said “Product Managers are responsible for making decisions. Business Analysts are responsible for making sure decisions get made.” – I’m not sure if that helped or made the explanation worse, lol; however, a business analysis takes business and product requirements and helps to build technical specifications for them.

What mostly prevails –

Similar to the Project Manager situation above, some organizations either do not know the difference or use the title to “coax” people into applying for into a Business Analyst role, until you get in there and find out what you’re in for. Some say a Product Manager is a Senior Business Analyst – this particular one gets me confused – why is a Senior Business Analyst not simply a Senior Business Analyst?

Best Practice –

Again best to separate the 2 roles if an organization can and if they need to. if you find yourself playing both roles. You may also want to transition into a Product Manager role, hence the reason why you should be aware of the differences and be sure it is something that is a fit for you.

While the product management function seems to overlaps with many other roles functions, hence the reason for confusion, in large organizations where there is some form of structure and diverse product lines, the difference is quite clear and all these functions could work seamlessly like a well-oiled engine. Imagine someone else was taking on your job responsibilities because they didn’t know it was not theirs! 😊

I’d love to hear from you guys – What do you do and how do other people understand it?

Check out the next post for what product management is NOT JUST, showing some subsets of product management and how a Product Manager’s background and expertise can influence how they function in their role.