Seth's Blog : Project/Product managers

Project/Product managers

You might be both.

In big organizations, project management is a distinct skill. It involves timekeeping, record keeping and organization. The project manager knows the budget and the deadline, and ensures that constituents stay in sync. This is the construction coordinator and the movie producer.

The product manager, on the other hand, makes decisions about features, scale and the final product. The product manager coordinates many inputs and ultimately makes critical marketing decisions, because they’re deciding what the product is. This is the architect, the movie director and the real estate developer.

In startups, agencies and scrappy organizations, it’s quite likely that one person is doing both jobs.

If that’s you, it’s worth a second to consider if it pays to get better at the one you don’t like as much. Managing projects better changed my career.