Below is an explanation of the typical responsibilities of these roles: Product owner role
Although the two roles sound similar, there are clear differences that determine the respective responsibilities of each, although they can support and complement each other's work. To understand the difference between a product manager and a product owner, it's important to first understand what each of these roles entails. In this article, we discuss the differences between a product manager versus a product owner and how these differences are key to product success. Despite this, there are also some fundamental differences between the two roles that are important to understand. The roles of product owner and product manager both include developing and marketing products and the responsibility of product launch and retention. Hopefully the above helps you determine which role fits your personality and career aspirations better in the long run.In business, retaining a high level of control and knowledge over a product is an effective strategy for success. The PO does not usually get involved in discussions with those higher up in the company, with the role specifically focused on making sure the squad is kept busy with work and that initiatives are delivered on time. Due to being responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the initiatives based on the research conducted by the APM and the PM, they will work more closely with developers, product designers, QA and other members of the squad as they work through release blockers, discuss different ways of delivering the same outcome and backlog grooming or sprint planning issues.
On the other hand, the PO is more focused with horizontal stakeholders. The APM and PM are also more aware about the overall company strategy and goals, as well as managing the expectations of other functions in the company when it comes to the work the squad is doing to improve the product or to work on an exciting new feature. Both front senior product persons, whether that be a senior PM or a Head of Product, to give daily or weekly updates on the research they are conducting, or what they are seeing in the metrics and qualitative feedback, and using this as the basis for discussion on working on a new feature or to solve a real problem with the product. The APM and the PM are more vertically focused when it comes to stakeholders they usually manage. The PO is also responsible for backlog grooming and spring planning, in terms of translating what needs to be worked on next into actual Epics, Stories, Tasks and Sub-Tasks into their product management tool of choice and being responsible for making sure they get prioritised and ticked off in every sprint. They are, however, responsible for transforming the strategic findings of the APM and PM into deliverable work to be executed by the squad via sprints. Depending on your job scope, the APM may have little to do with the day to day delivery and work of the squad as a result, instead spending more time as a ‘back-end’ strategy and prioritisation function that helps set the direction of what the squad should be working on, and not getting into the nitty gritty of actually delivering on the final feature or solution.īy contrast, a PO is not as heavily involved in research or the strategy piece of determining what the squad needs to work on next. Assisting the product manager vs running the squadĪs mentioned previously, the APM role requires you to assist the PM with a subset of their tasks, be it research, roadmapping or priotising features that the squad should be working on. This article hopes to provide a short explanation about each role and maybe assist those aspiring to enter the realm of product management to make the right decision for their future career. However, many are unsure about what the differences are between the two or why they would choose one over the other. In my experience, two of the most common pathways taken by individuals looking to branch out into product management are through either becoming an associate product manager or a product owner. This means there are so many more pathways, choices and opportunities for those looking to get into product than ever before. In June 2019, that number jumped to 17,801.
In August 2017, the number of PM-related jobs open on LinkedIn and Indeed was 13,490. According to a 2019 article on Productboard, the number of product management roles in the US have grown by an astounding 32% from August 2017 to June 2019 - a short two-year period. The demand for product professionals and experts in tech has been on an exponential rise for the last couple of years.