Program Manager VS Product Manager: How to choose the right person for the role?

In a normal scenario, if you ever hear the abbreviation PM, you will understand that it means Prime Minister. But in the business scenario, it’s not that simple. In the business scenario, it can mean one of these two positions – Product Manager or Program Manager (I am keeping Project manager in the same cohort for the purpose of this blog).

In contemporary times the functions and responsibilities of several job roles are highly integrated and intertwined in business terminologies. Product Manager and Program Manager are two such roles that are often used synonymously in an organization. It is easy to be confused between both because both these roles are very closely related but actually, they have their fair share of differences and quirks which are not that easy to identify.

How to differentiate between both?

To understand what distinguishes Product Management from Program Management, we must first examine the roles of a Product Manager and Program Manager objectively. When you become aware of the unique features, skills, and responsibilities of these two roles, it will become much more comfortable to address the Product Management vs. Program Management debate. Not just that, it will also help you to navigate the confusing domains of enterprise-level project management.

In simple terms, Product Management is the practice that strategically drives the development; market launch; and continual improvement, innovation, and support of company’s products to ensure that the product best meets its financial and strategic goals. Product Managers are executives in an organization who are responsible for one or more product offerings and play a crucial role right from the product conception to its final marketing and sunset.

On the other hand, the Program Management role involves identifying, analyzing, and coordinating the interdependencies among projects, products, and other important strategic initiatives across an organization for their successful execution. The Program Managers have a lateral view of the organization. Their focus is on the execution, which does not just involve the product but also other initiatives in the organization.

What is Product Management?

Product Management is primarily about deciding and defining the kinds of products that need to be built and what exactly justifies them.

Basically, they answer What, Why, and Who questions about the product, where “What” is the product itself, “Why” is the reason behind the need of the product and its positioning in the market, and “Who” are the external forceslike competitors, customers i.e. the ones who dictate the need and positioning of the product in the market.

Product Managers are responsible for the success and the failure of any new product that the organization plans to launch. A Product Manager needs to have strong business and market understanding, analytical and leadership skills, and expertisein communication that is needed to lead an organization and take some strategic and effective decisions for the company.

They also have to ensure that the product’s vision is aligned well with the overall business goals and strategy.

What does a Product Manager do?

The Product Managers analyze the data that they have gathered by using tools like Market research, User/Customer surveys, Analytics, Customer Feedback, Design and wireframing, User Onboarding, etc. to come up with a useful strategic directionfor defining and positioning the product to attain organizational goals.

The Product Manager also takes the responsibility to keep track of the availability of technical and financial resources. They communicate their strategies to the decision-makers and the company’s stakeholders after they are done with assessment and research.

Only after their approval, can they transform the strategy and put it into a workable plan.

Key Responsibilities

• To align, develop and execute the product strategy with the vision of the company
• To create roadmaps and timelines for the launch of the product
• To create technical product specifications, detailed requirements, and use cases
• To have an effective product positioning strategy
• To gather and analyze the customers’ and stakeholders’ feedback.
• To identify the growth areas and create the product line’s roadmap that boosts its adoption in the market
• To make creative recommendations to expand the product base of the company.
• To oversee product success over the entire lifecycle of the product

What is Program Management?

Before going into detail about Program Management, let’s define the term program in terms of business. A program is a group of related initiatives and projects which are intended to fulfill any business strategy.

The definition of Program Management depends on the industry and the organization. More commonly it is primarily about overseeing and coordinating various projects, products, and other initiatives that need strategic planning. Although the job role of the Program Manager depends on the industry, the Program Managers usually have to focus on the business goals, and they do this by using the correct management tools i.e. SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Matrix, Project planning and tracking tools, Risk Map, Decision tree, Radar Chart, etc.

They are responsible for managing various portfolios of the projects and/or products and ensuring their timely delivery within the assigned budget as per the quality and standards.

What does a Program Manager do?

The Program Manager is usually involved in the implementation and rollout of the products and/or portfolio of projects, implementation and execution of strategic initiatives like compliances and certifications, agile transformation, process automation, or opening a new location, etc.

Program Managers understand the high-end business goals and ensure that the goals are met by answering the How, When and Who questions about any program. Where “How” is the execution strategy, “When” are the timelines of different steps and milestones of the program, and “Who” represents the people needed in the execution team?

Key responsibilities

• To expand the program offering and improve the existing program quality
• To analyze the potential risks in a program
• To develop and implement strategies for the team and ensure that there is a risk mitigation plan in place
• To work with the HR team to manage the resources and staff.
• To manage the reports and budgets on how to allocate funds for varied programs
• To report on the performance of the program to the executive directors and team
• To liaise with the customer support and marketing team to promote the program
• To develop the industry partners to identify opportunities for the program’s continual improvement

Why is it important to understand the difference between both?

Often companies don’t understand the distinction, or the skills required to do each of the jobs well, and end up conflating them or blending them in ways that lead to poor outcomes.

Most of the time it’s the Product Manager who gets stuck with the responsibilities of a Program Manager. Which mostly is not good for the smooth running of the organization and also hinders the experience of the customers.

Product Managers generally have relationships and trust across different parts of the company and can handle new challenges. And, these skills are needed to do product management work that encompasses Product Strategy, Roadmapping, Discovery, Product Planning, internal sales/marketing support, post-release optimization — as well as many other tasks to drive product success.

Given the cross-functional nature of product management, many Product Managers get saddled with formal program management responsibilities as well.

It comes in many forms. The most common is implementation and release-related program management. It seems like a good idea given that Product Managers are already working with engineering and other teams on release (but it’s not).

Being asked to perform program management can apply to many other scenarios, such as launch planning, packaging, licensing, OEM agreements with partners, product security or other compliance efforts, etc. In short, any “program” that is loosely tied to a product often becomes Product Management’s responsibility.

But here’s the problem:

• Program management takes time and effort.
• Program management’s focus and deliverables are very different than product management’s.
• Some vital core skills for program management are different from product management.
• Product management is focused on product success, both in the short term and in the long term.

The point is, the two are far less similar than many people think. And every minute Product Managers are doing program management (tracking activities, following up on deliverables, clearing communication issues, updating stakeholders, etc.) is multiple minutes they are not spending time in the market, speaking with customers/users, defining the right product priorities, developing good product specifications, enabling sales/marketing, etc.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, I want to say that if you understand the difference between both these roles, hire a separate competent person for each, and define the right KPIs, then you will observe that both of these profiles can form a pair to ensure long-term success for your company.

Basically, these job profiles will allow your company to invest adequate resources, time, and efforts to design effective product management and a program management strategy. They together make tangible progress and also let the company gain a competitive advantage in the market.