Product Management, Product Development, and Project Management
Understanding the distinctions between these three functions is fundamental to effective product organizations. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they represent distinct responsibilities with different focuses.
The Three Functions
Product Management
Focus: The “what” and “why”
Responsibilities:
- Market research and competitive analysis
- Customer needs identification
- Product vision and strategy
- Roadmap planning and prioritization
- Requirements and specifications
- ROI analysis
- Go-to-market strategy
- Rollout and training coordination
Span: Entire product lifecycle — before, during, and after development
Key Question: “Are we building the right thing?”
Product Development
Focus: The “how”
Responsibilities:
- Engineering and software development
- Data science and analytics implementation
- UX/UI design
- System architecture
- Building and coding
- Testing and quality assurance
- Deployment and release
Span: The build phase — takes requirements and creates working software
Key Question: “Are we building it right?”
Project Management
Focus: The “when” and “who”
Responsibilities:
- Timeline planning
- Resource allocation
- Dependency management
- Risk tracking and mitigation
- Status reporting
- Cross-functional coordination
- Budget management
Span: Execution of specific initiatives with defined start and end dates
Key Question: “Are we on track?”
Key Distinctions
| Aspect | Product Management | Product Development | Project Management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | What & Why | How | When & Who |
| Owns | Product across lifecycle | The build | The execution |
| Horizon | Strategy → Launch → Iterate | Requirements → Working software | Start → Finish |
| Success Metric | Product-market fit, business outcomes | Technical quality, working software | On-time, on-budget delivery |
| Primary Artifacts | PRDs, roadmaps, specs | Code, architecture, tests | Schedules, status reports, RACI |
How They Work Together
Product Management Product Development Project Management
│ │ │
│ "Here's WHAT we need │ │
│ to build and WHY" │ │
│ ─────────────────────────> │ │
│ │ │
│ │ "We'll need X weeks, │
│ │ Y resources" │
│ │ ─────────────────────────> │
│ │ │
│ Questions about │ HOW to build it │
│ requirements │ (design, architecture) │
│ <───────────────────────── │ │
│ │ │
│ │ │
│ │ WHEN it will be done │
│ │ WHO is doing what │
│ │ <───────────────────────────│
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
Collaboration Patterns
Product Management + Product Development:
- PM defines requirements; Dev determines technical approach
- PM sets priorities; Dev estimates effort and identifies constraints
- PM accepts work against criteria; Dev ensures quality standards
- Together they negotiate scope, tradeoffs, and MVP boundaries
Product Development + Project Management:
- Dev provides estimates and dependencies; ProjM builds schedules
- Dev raises technical blockers; ProjM coordinates resolution
- Dev tracks work progress; ProjM reports status to stakeholders
Product Management + Project Management:
- PM sets strategic priorities; ProjM allocates resources accordingly
- PM owns the “what”; ProjM ensures the “when” is tracked
- PM manages stakeholder expectations on scope; ProjM manages expectations on timing
In Agile/Scrum Contexts
In Agile organizations, much of traditional Project Management is absorbed by Scrum ceremonies:
- Sprint Planning replaces detailed upfront scheduling
- Daily Standups replace status meetings
- Retrospectives replace formal process reviews
- Burndown charts replace Gantt charts
This is why many find dedicated Project Management redundant in Agile teams. Project Management should not devolve into “managing by Gantt chart.”
However, some Project Management functions remain valuable:
- Cross-team coordination on large initiatives
- Resource planning across multiple product teams
- Dependency management between teams
- Program-level risk tracking
Scrum Role Mapping
| Traditional Role | Scrum Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Product Manager | Product Owner (often same person) |
| Project Manager | Scrum Master (partially), or eliminated |
| Development Lead | Part of self-organizing team |
Common Misalignments
Product Manager Acting as Project Manager
Symptom: PM spends most time on schedules, status updates, and task tracking instead of customer research and strategy. Fix: Let Scrum ceremonies handle execution tracking; PM focuses on discovery and prioritization.
Product Manager Acting as Product Developer
Symptom: PM prescribes implementation details, database schemas, or architectural choices. Fix: PM defines the “what” and “why”; trust the development team to determine “how.”
Product Developer Acting as Product Manager
Symptom: Engineering decides what to build based on technical interest rather than customer value. Fix: PM owns prioritization based on customer needs and business goals.
Project Manager Acting as Product Manager
Symptom: Scope and priorities are driven by schedule and resource constraints rather than customer value. Fix: PM sets strategic direction; ProjM optimizes execution within those constraints.
Path2Response Context
At Path2Response, these functions are distributed as follows:
Product Management:
- CTO and product leadership define product vision and strategy
- Product initiatives flow through the PROD Jira project
- PRDs and requirements documented in Confluence
Product Development:
- Engineering teams build and deploy
- Data Science develops models and algorithms
- Work tracked in PATH Jira project
- Architecture decisions documented in Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
Project Management:
- Largely absorbed into Agile ceremonies
- Cross-team coordination handled by engineering leadership
- Major initiatives may have dedicated coordination