Ask HN: How does a Product Manager add value?

Post by muzani » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:10 AM UTC

bradleyhb wrote: post #11

muzani wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify for the others, a project manager keeps the project on time and budget, and makes sure that the right person are in the team, reports progress, protects the team from political influences, and so on. A product manager is more like a movie director. She protects the product from feature creep, remains in close contact with users/stakeholders, chooses which bugs to prioritize, etc. Often there's overlap betw…

Probably you mean movie producer.

Post by muzani » Sat, Jun 26, 2021, 1:52 AM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #13

muzani wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I understand film roles correctly, producer would be like a project manager, and director would be like product manager. Product doesn't deal with budgets, profits, markets. Product is closer to user experience. Just like the director knows a script inside out, product knows customer problems inside out. Just like a director knows what happens in script writing and editing, product knows what happens in the requir…

> Product doesn't deal with budgets, profits, markets. This is different at every organization. I have seen companies that make PMs 100% about profit and market, who then delegate everything else down to others. I've seen ones who work exactly as you describe. And I've seen one where Product manager == Jira monkey. Based on my experience, while there is a lot of variety, most PMs do worry about the markets and profit…