3P’s — Product Management, Program Management & Project Management
I recently wrote on LinkedIn about the confusion surrounding three different professions, all starting with PM: Product Management, Program Management, and Project Management. These roles can be confusing also because of the overlapping responsibilities.
Let’s start by defining a product, a program, and a project:
- A product is anything that can be offered in the market to solve a problem or satisfy a need.
- A program is a collection of different projects interconnected and part of the long-term business objectives.
- A project is something temporary that has a defined beginning and end in time, a defined scope and resources.
Key distinctions are:
- A product can never be considered complete since your user is always evolving with different needs.
- A program expands beyond the completion of its projects to the long-term program execution.
- A project is something unique, not a routine operation.
Valuable insights:
I posted this on LinkedIn because I’m interested in the community’s perspective on these PM roles. I particularly appreciated Rina Segrud ‘s comment, which added valuable insights:
- Product managers participate in all programs related to their product and users. They need to understand the user, the product vision, and desired outcomes.
- Program managers oversee all projects within their program scope to help the product succeed. They need to understand desired outcomes and resourcing needs for all projects.
- Project managers handle projects within their specialization (e.g., web, CRM, brand). They need to understand the program scope, desired outcomes, and necessary steps for completion.
What are your thoughts?
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