Products have always been in our lives. The market needs to have insights into the product, and product management not only gives product insights but also extracts the essentials of the product and delivers a clear vision and emphasis to the organization. Projects are temporary efforts to meet the needs of the business to organize by providing services to the users.
Let's examine the differences between the two roles; product manager and project manager, to determine which is most appropriate for you.
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What Is a Product?
A product can be defined as "something that is formed via a process and projected into the market to meet the customer needs and fulfills the users' appetites." Anything that is offered to deliver its assistance to the users by positioning grind to be produced is named a product. A tangible item that an association forms to aid the customer's need, for example, Zomato ‘for online food delivery.’
A unit designs a product to create customer value by decoding their concerns with suitable evolution and doesn't have any explicit life and has more permanence which means that a product doesn't have any fixed end date. The outcome as a product can be in physical form, virtual form, or just an idea. Every product has an eminent life and needs persistent modifications and changes as per the customer's prerequisite.
What Is Product Management?
Product management looks after accomplishing daily product requirements and creating tremendous growth in the business. Product management manages the process of the product throughout the lifecycle, from strategizing, design and development, and to the branding of the product.
Product management involves:
- Strategizing products to enhance the profit of the business
- Creating customer value
- Creating roadmaps to get a clear idea of designing and developing the product
- Specifying functional requirements and creating blueprints
- Development of the product as per the requirements
- Taking customer’s feedback
- Finalizing the price of the product
Now let’s know about project and project management
What Is a Project?
A project is a process that results in the product as an outcome. It is a fleeting effort commenced to construct a remarkable product or service. The product constructed as an outcome of a project should set a mark in the market and success in the efforts of the team.
All the projects have a team to work on, a budget to complete the task under a specific amount, a schedule to follow, and some expectations to meet the need of the customers.
Now that we have an overview of the project let’s understand project management.
What Is Project Management?
The process of planning and allocating a company's resources to a particular assignment is known as project management. Project management plays the same role irrespective of industries.
It is a method of using talents and procedures to execute a project in accordance with the needs of the client. The primary purpose of project management is to establish the project's goals and objectives. In order to guarantee the quality of the projects, it also creates a quality assurance check.
Now let’s understand who is a product and project manager.
Who Is a Product Manager?
A product manager is an individual in an organization that is responsible for product development as per the customer requirements. The product manager takes the inputs from the customer and plans the product according. The allocation of the team is accomplished after knowing the customer's prerequisites.
The manager assigns the tasks to the development team and manages the coordination regarding the product between the customer and the developer. Production needs continuous monitoring and controlling in order to make sure the development is up to the mark and as per the customer's provisions.
The following are the responsibilities of a product manager
- Monitoring opponents
- Understanding the user's needs
- Assembling market research and competition data
- Monitoring internal stakeholders
- Analyzing and supervising the team
- Achieving the product goals and objectives
- Depicting the parameters for the product accomplishment
Who Is a Project Manager?
For an organization to complete its projects successfully, they need a highly skilled and conscientious project manager. So let us know who exactly a product manager is.
- A product manager is an individual who plans and organizes the resources needed for a project and looks after the specific needs of a project of an organization.
- The manager determines the goals and objectives of a project by approaching the skills and techniques needed to complete a particular project, in order to take up the project at its peak success.
The following are the responsibilities of a project manager
- To optimize distributed essential intakes
- To halt the project on time
- To supervise the performance of the team by constantly monitoring and controlling the work of the team
- To drive proper communication and coordination in the team
- To achieve the goal and objective of the project within the assigned time
- To satisfy the customer’s requirements and to make them delighted
With the change in time, we have observed an extensive growth in the necessity for products. Consequently, the demand for product managers has boosted. As we have comprehended before, the product is an outgrowth of a project, and the elevation in the product has advanced the digit of projects in the organization, which has also augmented the demand for project managers. But the terms product and project managers are quite rambling for one who doesn't have any prior experience in the market and business. So to get a precise picture of both terms, let's understand the difference between a product manager and a project manager.
Product Manager V/S Project Manager
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The product manager deals with the all-around needs of a product, from strategizing to branding the product. |
The project manager deals with applying techniques to complete a particular project. |
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The product manager focuses on building up the value of the product. |
The project manager focuses on work coordination. |
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The product manager owns the “What” |
The project manager owns the “How” |
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The product manager must be good at market research and strategic thinking. |
The project manager must be good at planning and budget organizing. |
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The product manager brings the idea related to the product into the marketplace. |
The project manager uses specific skills to deliver a valuable product. |
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The product manager deals with external market operations. |
The project manager deals with the internal operations of an organization. |
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The product manager manages the product till its complete success. |
The project manager manages the project till it is delivered to the customers. |
For being a manager, one must have all the skills that are required for the profession, So let's know the skills that are necessary to start a career as a product manager.
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Strategic Thinking |
The ability to plan for the future and prepare strategies by understanding your place in the market, focusing on the goals, and identifying the opportunities. |
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Leadership Skills |
The skills of a person to lead and motivate a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. |
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Time Management |
The ability to manage time in efficient ways so that the product could be delivered in the given period. |
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Empathy Skills |
The ability to understand someone else's feelings and relate with their thoughts and mindset. Empathy involves putting yourself in someone's shoes. |
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Communication Skills |
The way of interacting with others and the act of transferring information to others. Communication skills enable us to deliver the information in such a way that the audience can understand it properly. |
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Analytical Skills |
The ability of a person to understand the patterns and provide information in shorter ways to get conclusions. |
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Presentation Skills |
The ability to deliver a presentation in informative, creative, and attractive ways. |
Now let’s know the skills necessary for being a project manager,
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Method Knowledge |
A project manager must have good knowledge of project management methodologies, for example, Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Prince2, etc. |
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Risk Management |
Risk management is the ability to determine and oversee the hazards to the organization's capital and earnings. |
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Knowledge of Management Tools |
The manager must have a basic understanding of project management tools, for example, Dashboards, Reporting, Gantt charts, timesheets, etc. |
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Cost Management |
Cost management is the ability to manage the project cost to provide maximum benefit to the organization. |
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Adaptability |
To become a manager, one must be competent to accommodate different conditions and circumstances. |
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Critical Thinking |
Critical thinking is the ability to think rationally and understand the rational relationship between ideas. |
Before setting forth in a professional career, it is considered to have certified wisdom of that profession. So let’s take a look at the certifications mandated for both product managers and project managers.
Certifications for Product Managers
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Product School - Product Management Certification Program
The Product School offers 2 types of product management certifications. One is product manager certification, and the other is Senior Product manager certification. The product manager certification helps learners to learn how to build digital products end-to-end, from discovery to optimization. The senior project manager certification assists product managers to enhance their technical and hard skills and learning how to leverage advanced data to make informed decisions.
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Pragmatic Institute’s Product Management Certification
The certification concentrates on defining roles and responsibilities, focusing on the right feedback from the right sources, and building buyers’ products. It also pledges that product managers will accumulate “functional skills, tools, and templates in the field of management.”
Simplilearn’s Professional Certification in Product Management is one of the top 4 worldwide certified programs in Product Management. This course is in Partnership with the SP Jain School of Global Management and involves 4 months of rigorous live training from SP Jain's top faculty across Australia, Dubai, and India, along with live sessions from top product leaders. This program prepares you to become a product manager via an exhaustive curriculum covering all aspects of product management and educates you on the latest industry trends, advancements, and related industry applications from top product experts via live sessions.
The program provides a 150% salary hike and connects 2900+ hiring partners.
The program will take you toward product strategy, new product ideation and development, product lifecycle management, design thinking, UI/UX, and many more different concepts of product management.
The top companies that are hiring product managers via Simplilearn’s Product Management course are Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Adobe, Linkedin, Deloitte, Airbus, and many more.
Now let’s know about the certifications for project managers.
Certifications for Project Managers
Project Management Professional is an internationally recognized professional designation proposed by the Project Management Institute. Acquiring a PMP certification will accelerate your professional and personal growth. The PMP certification can help you showcase your skills and get your work globally recognized. It allows you to prove your experience and competencies to lead and direct projects.
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PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
The PMI-ACP® (Agile Certified Practitioner) training authorizes you to become a skilled agile professional with an understanding of a wide scope of agile methodologies. ACP is PMI's fastest-growing certification and recently the PMI-ACP exam has been revised with the addition of the Agile Practice Directory.
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Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is an entry-level certification to help individuals formulate project management (PM) skills. It is one of several certifications issued by the nonprofit Project Management Institute (PMI).
The CSM certification course is concentrated on delivering an improved interpretation of Scrum methodologies and their execution. It helps you become a Certified ScrumMaster®, a designation proposed by Scrum Alliance to practitioners who have completed a CSM certification course & exhibit their wisdom by passing the exam.
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Projects in Controlled Environments
The PRINCE2®, or ‘Projects IN Controlled Environments' certification, is a process-based project management method that proposes an organized bearing to furnishing a thriving project with clear templates, processes, and steps. The certification is both process and project-focused.
So far, we have understood how product managers differ from project managers. Now let's understand how product managers and project managers work together.
How Do Product and Project Managers Work Together?
A product and project manager often work together. The product manager sets the trajectory for a product by creating visions and goals for it by doing market research and knowing the customer’s requirements the project manager brings these visions and goals into reality by working on the projects to develop the products. Both roles work coordinately to provide profitable success to the organization and fulfill market needs.
You would like to know the compensation trend for product managers and project managers in order to start your career as one before moving into an organizational job.
So let's look at what product and project managers make on average.
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Product Managers |
In India, the average salary of a product manager is approximately 10 lakhs per annum. |
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In the US, the average salary of a product manager is $ 90,000 - $1,60,000 per annum. |
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Project Manager |
In India, the average salary of a project manager is approximately 10 lakhs per annum. |
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In the US, the average salary of a project manager is $75,000 - $1,40,000 per annum. |
In India, the typical pay for a product manager is around 10 lakhs, while in the US, it ranges from 90 to 160 thousand dollars.
A project manager typically earns 10 lakhs in India, 75 thousand dollars for new hires, and 140 thousand dollars for experienced workers in the US.
Top faculty across Australia, Dubai, and India are a part of our Professional Certification In Product Management. Enroll today and meet top product leaders!
Conclusion
In this article, we have studied the difference between product managers and project managers. Both the product and project managers are the roles that organizations and markets lean on, for profitable business and promising product requirements. The product and project managers follow up on different lifecycles and, have different areas to work on, but ultimately both roles coordinately help the users to have an optimistic product, along with providing benefits to the company and the market.
To become a Certified Product and Project Manager, you can refer to Professional Certification in Product Management and Post Graduate Program in Project Management Simplilearn’s Courses.
Do you have any questions about this article on ‘Product Manager v/s Project Manager’? If yes, feel free to mention them in the comment section at the bottom of this page. Our expert team will help you solve your queries at the earliest.
