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A Guide to Responsibilities
Questions about… | Who? | Why? | |
|---|---|---|---|
The product roadmap and vision | The PM | The PM is your go-to person for strategic insight. | |
Day-to-day development and backlog prioritization | The PO | You are the champion of these details. | |
Specific user stories or backlog items | The PO | The PO is your expert on the day-to-day details of product development. | |
Technical feasibility of proposed features | Engineering | While the PM might have a high-level understanding, the engineering team can give the most accurate assessment of technical challenges and solutions. | |
Long-term product strategy and future roadmap | The PM | The PM, in collaboration with stakeholders, is responsible for charting the future course of the product. | |
Marketing and customer acquisition initiatives | Marketing & Sales | While the PO may contribute with user insights, marketing and sales teams typically spearhead these efforts. |
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Feature | Product Manager | Product Owner |
Focus | External: Customers, market research, competition | Internal: Development team, backlog, user stories |
Activities | Strategy, vision, marketing, research | Requirements, backlog, prioritization, acceptance criteria |
Deliverables | Product roadmap, market analysis, competitive reports | Epics, user stories, product demos |
The Product Manager’s Work -> | The Product Owner’s Work |
|---|---|
The PM decides the strategy is to "increase user engagement by 20% through personalized recommendations and provides UX. | The PO translates this into concrete user stories, like "Implement a recommendation engine based on user purchase history and browsing behavior." |
The PM identifies a pain point where users struggle to find relevant products. | The PO translates this into user stories for features like improved search functionality and personalized product recom |
Think of it like this: The PM sets the destination, while the PO charts the course and steers the ship.
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Support: Resolving customer issues and ensuring a smooth user experience.
Example: "Hey Support team, a user reported encountering a bug with the recommendation engine. Can you prioritize investigating this issue?"
Scrum master: Facilitating agile processes and keeping the team on track.
Example: "Scrum master, during the retrospective, the team felt overwhelmed with the current sprint backlog. Can we re-prioritize some tasks to improve our velocity?"
Engineering: Bringing your vision to life through code and functionality.
Example: "Engineering team, I have a question about the technical feasibility of implementing the personalized recommendations feature. Could we hop on a quick call to discuss?"
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The Product Manager’s Work ->
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The Product Owner’s Work
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The PM decides the strategy is to "increase user engagement by 20% through personalized recommendations and provides UX.
...
The PO translates this into concrete user stories, like "Implement a recommendation engine based on user purchase history and browsing behavior."
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The PM identifies a pain point where users struggle to find relevant products.
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mendations,
PO vs PM Success Metrics
PO Success Metrics: User engagement, product performance, team velocity, stakeholder satisfaction, personal growth.
PM Success Metrics: Market penetration, market share, product revenue, brand awareness, customer lifetime value.
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