Product Manager vs. Product Owner

Few topics cause as much confusion as the distinction between Product Manager and Product Owner. The question often arises as to how the roles differ and what responsibilities they each have. We'll clear this up for you once and for all and provide clear definitions for both terms. First of all, however, one thing is important: the terms Product Manager and Product Owner are used very interchangeably in practice.

The definition

Product Owner is the role description given to Product Managers in the SCRUM framework. By SCRUM definition, Product Owners are responsible for maximizing the value of the product.

This is where the reason for the confusion becomes clear: the definition of Product Manager:in is very similar and almost identical.

However, it is important to add that product managers do not necessarily work within the SCRUM framework. The term Product Owner comes from the Scrum framework and is therefore actually only common in Scrum and software development. However, in practice we have now also met product owners for hardware products that do not contain any software at all.

Product management plays a crucial role in understanding the tasks and responsibilities of product managers and product owners.

Product Owner is more of a role description in the organization, whereas Product Manager:in is mostly used for the job and the task.

We have written a detailed article about the role of the Product Owner to describe the role, tasks and responsibilities in more detail.

How are the terms used in practice?

If your job title is Product Owner, you will usually work more closely with the development team. This often involves operational work. In practice, this task is detail-oriented and deals more with backlock and requirements, for example.

As a Product Manager, on the other hand, you are more concerned with the big picture. You bring the strategy and vision of the product to the team with the help of the roadmap.

However, it must be said that in practice the terms are often used arbitrarily and interchangeably.

Does the size of the organization play a role?

In smaller startups, you can observe that product managers are also product owners and fulfill both roles at the same time. The development starts with the vision, together with the CEO, and gradually transforms into a more operational role.

In larger companies, there is a Head of Product with several Product Managers in the team. In this case, the Head of Product has an overview of the team and the big picture. This is why the product managers take on many of the operational tasks. In larger companies, the Product Managers may also be called Product Owners outside of the SCRUM framework.

What hierarchical differences are there?

Traditionally, there are managers, such as Heads of Product or CPOs, who manage several product management teams. In this case, there is a hierarchical difference between Product Manager and Product Owner. The practice of product development largely determines which tasks are assigned to a product manager or a product owner. As mentioned above, product managers are more concerned with the vision of the product than product owners, who work more operationally and closer to the development team.

Short and sweet

• Both terms are used very interchangeably.
• Product Owner is the role of Product Manager in the SCRUM framework.
• Product owners work more operationally than product managers.
• Product managers keep an eye on the entire product.
• Owner and Product Manager: The Product Owner is responsible for the short to medium-term goals and implementation in the development team, while the Product Manager takes into account the long-term product strategy, market analyses and the positioning of the product in the competitive environment.

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