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Product Owner vs Product Manager
What’s the difference?
This story was originally published in the Product Compass Newsletter. Anyone can access it here.
In 2024, we need to end this madness. Product Owner is not a job title.
When you split the roles:
- Product Manager talks to the business and customers.
- Product Owner (“backlog administrator”) works with developers, collecting and documenting “the requirements” and inspecting their work.
I consider this one of the worst anti-patterns in product management.
The Product Trio must work together
I agree with Marty Cagan, who wrote that to succeed as a Product Manager, you need:
- Direct access to users and customers.
- Direct access to business stakeholders.
- Direct access to engineers and designer.
Without proxies. Product Owner included.
So the only valid setup is that the Product Manager and Product Owner are the same person with the end-to-end responsibility:
In particular, it’s essential that the Product Manager, Product Designer, and at least one Engineer perform Product Discovery together.
For more information, see my free post: What Exactly Is Product Discovery? Product Discovery 101.
“But it’s too much work”
A common argument is that combining two roles is “too much work for a single person.”
That might happen if you spend days attending useless meetings or writing detailed instructions. But if you empower others, prioritize work, and focus on value without BS, things go smoothly.
In the past, I explained the importance of focus, strong prioritization, and leading with strategic context. For more information, see:
Product Owner in Scrum
If you work in Scrum, as one of 492 PSPO III worldwide, I’d like to emphasize that Product Owner is just…
