Playing the dual role of Product and Project Manager:
Product and Project Management are often an overlapping roles. Even their names overlap. Yes, Product is about strategy and Project is about execution, but it is still natural today to expect Product to be Project, but not the other way around. In a daily routine of many Product Manager’s life, there is an overlap of responsibilities.
When does having a Product Manager wearing two hats serves the product/company goals? And what are the challenges it brings?
At the 4th annual conference of Product Excellence organization, Dec 2016
Presentation Slides:
The Product is involved in all stages of the product. also in the execution part. in parallel, works on the next product.
when there is no Project manager, the PM needs to do all the job alone, a not comfort place to be in.
To see the costs visit the next 4 slides...
Creates imbalance between each's ambitions. leads to non-objective decision making.
Product should spec. Project should plan. It works great when each focus on his domain. Most Product managers I've spoken with, don't feel they know how to do Project well enough.
The more you do Project tasks, the less your product gets the attention it needs.
Over loaded Product Manager > Delay in roadmap > delay in go to market. Solve it by involving Project Managers, and let the Product progress with the Roadmap.
Just acknowledge and observe this duality. See what fits you, the company, the product....
Early stages (i.e. startup, MVP) > Project Manager not mandatory. Progressed product with many releases, synch with other systems, sub-products >Project Manager is Mandatory!
Small feature > Product and the dev team are fine. Big / Huge features > Product needs Project beside him.
If you are not, go and learn those skills.
The more big and diverse it is, the more Project is needed. Diversity in location, language, professionalism, etc...
4 Costs + 4 things to observe. Remember there is no single truth!