From project management to product management
When organizations go through some form of transformation, they inevitably end up with people who they aren’t sure how they fit in the organizational structure.
In other words…
Move out or move over
Sometimes, especially when organizations get transformation help from accounting firms turned consultancies, they get rid of just about everyone in a particular role. A prime example of that is business analysts during agile transformations.
In other cases, the organization tries to move everyone from an existing role to a new role that fits better in the transformed organization structure. With agile transformations, this resulted in project managers becoming scrum masters and business analysts becoming product owners.
These moves can work out great, especially if the people making the switch have the proper skill set and temperament for the new roles. If there’s not a good skill set and temperament match, it can be bad for the employees and the company.
The big switch in product transformations
As organizations start product transformations to go from project to product, they simultaneously wonder what to do with all their project managers and where they’re going to find all the product managers they need.
The natural solution is to re-title their project managers as product managers. Brilliant!
Is it?
Sure, if the people involved want to make the switch and they get the proper support from their organization.
So if you find yourself in that situation, I thought I’d share some resources to help make the switch as successful as possible.
Product management vs project management: similarities, differences, and crossover
Whether it’s because of the shared initials or the similar-sounding words (product and project), it’s common for people to confuse the roles of a product manager and a project manager. But there are some significant differences between product management and project management.
The folks at Hotjar explain the differences between the roles, and how those differences drive the ways product managers and project managers prioritize outcomes and outputs, strategize, and work with their team.
Making the Move from Project Management to Product Management
The folks at ProductPlan speak with a lot of project managers looking to move to product management, often because they’d like to move into a more strategic role or to have a greater impact on their company. And most say bringing products to market looks exciting.
The good news for you is that, as a project manager, you already have some of the experience and skills needed to become a product manager. But the two roles are very different. To help you make the move the team at ProductPlan wrote this article to help you:
Ask yourself the key questions to determine if becoming a product manager is the right move for your career.
Get a better understanding of the similarities and differences between these two roles.
Develop a strategic plan for beginning your transition to a product management career.
How Joelle Fung transitioned from Project Manager to Product Manager
Joelle Fung moved from her first job as a Project Manager into a role as a Product Manager. As part of this move, she went from a huge multinational company to a small local company with a total headcount of less than 20. Perhaps it’s the difference in size, but the office cultures were worlds apart. She transitioned to handle a completely different product in a different industry.
Apart from saying and hearing the word “Product” a lot more than “Project”, there was a lot she had to learn on the job. Fortunately, there were a lot of skills she picked up as a Project Manager that she could still apply as a Product Manager. Here’s her story of making the shift.
Transitioning from Project Manager to Product Manager Role
Daria Brylova recently transitioned from a Project Manager role into a Product Manager role and she wanted to share some of her reflections.
If you’re just starting out the product manager journey, you might have a lot of questions like “How do I manage a team and communicate with stakeholders?”,”How do I create a product roadmap?”, “Do I need to have analytical skills?”, “How do I measure the growth of a product?”
These are all common and reasonable questions to have which is why Daria created a guide that might help you enter the world of product management. The tips she shares should also be handy to anyone who is currently a project manager but would like to take on more product-related duties on their plate.
5 Big Risks of the Project to Product Rebrand
Lately, several organizations are switching titles from Project Manager or Program Manager to Product Manager. This could be a positive shift away from emphasizing individual project execution toward enabling the management of whole product lifecycles.
However, Jeff Patton wonders if the speedy adoption of these title changes show some organizations are jumping on a trend, rather making intentional and considered moves toward becoming a Product led organization.
If you are considering changing Project Manager titles to Product Manager titles or already have, Jeff shared some of the top risks with mitigation strategies that you need to consider.
Where to get great product management info
Aside from InsideProduct, there are several great resources for practical product management information. One of my go to sources is the Product Briefing from Depart of Product.
The Product Briefing is a curated selection of product news, launches and analysis from around the web designed to help you stay in the loop with the latest product developments and build winning products. Join 18,000+ product people from Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft and get your free weekly product briefing.
Thanks for Reading
Thanks again for reading InsideProduct.
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Talk to you next week,
Kent J. McDonald
Founder | KBP.Media