Why do many product teams seem to work efficiently, but sometimes lack real impact? A small sample of the challenges I hear from product owners: “We have a lot of meetings”, “We work in silos”, “I just follow the processes”, “The stakeholders all want something different”. Does this sound familiar? How does this actually come about?

Melissa Perri, an authority on product management, explains in Lenny's podcast from the origins of Scrum, Agile and the role of product owner. This insight is important because although the role of product owner is growing in the Netherlands, the role does not exist at large tech companies in Silicon Valley. I explain the difference between product owner versus product manager, why this is so and what we can learn from this in this blog.

Product owner versus product manager 

In Silicon Valley, they work with product managers. And although the terms product owner and product manager are often used interchangeably, there are major differences.

Product owners focus primarily on the team. They prioritize tasks and manage the backlog to ensure that the development team works efficiently. Their role is often tactical and team-oriented.

Product managers have broad responsibilities. They focus on the customer, the market and the strategy. They ensure that the product adds value and aligns with the company's long-term goals.

The key difference is that product managers determine strategy based on research and user knowledge and the business. They present the problem to the product team (e.g., developers, UXers, analysts) who is responsible for solving the problem. In contrast, a product owner usually directs the developers to create a solution.

The success of the product owner 

In recent years, the number of product owners has increased significantly, especially in the Netherlands, the a rapidly growing role. The rapid adoption of this role brings opportunities as well as challenges. To understand why we see many product teams increasingly focused on features and not having time to talk to customers, we need to take a look at history.

The rise of product managers

With the rise of HP and Microsoft (1970 - 1980), more and more ‘software native’ organizations emerged, where the software itself was the business. To build good software and grow, employees had to do market research, talk to customers, collaborate with developers and improve the process. They do ‘end-to-end product management,’ but are originally from the business.

And then came scrum and agile

Then scrum was introduced by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber: they introduced three basic roles (product owner, scrum master and developers) and the overall familiar process with sprint planning, daily stand-ups, a sprint review and a retrospective. This provided structure where the product owner had to maximize the value of the product through backlog management, stakeholder management and forming a vision.

A good start. especially when scrum was used to implement Agile principles (from the Agile manifesto of 2001) to make concrete. Only, in practice, product owners spend most of their time with backlog management and stakeholder management and less with strategy and vision. The outcome: many teams do agile instead of agile are.

Scrum was implemented at large organizations

Large companies saw the potential of Scrum. There was a two-day training with certifications. It promised speed and flexibility and there was a clear process: SaFe (Scaled Agile Framework) was born. But (and of course there is a but):

• SaFe introduces many processes so that teams are focused on the process rather than the result.
• Organizations get caught up in the meetings it entails.
• SaFe emphasizes ‘delivery,’ but offers little support for ‘product discovery’

So many teams work in sprint after sprint, without the space to experiment, talk to customers or validate. And that is well right the most important part of product management.

Benefits of a product manager's job responsibilities

• You can work on a strategy

As a product manager, you will have the opportunity to work on the vision and strategy of a product. This means you look not only at what needs to be done today, but also at the future. You ask yourself questions like: Where do we want to be a year from now? How does this product fit within the company's goals? This strategic work makes your role not only more interesting, but also more important to the success of the company.

• Make more impact

Product managers are responsible for the bigger picture and, as a result, can make a huge impact, not only on the teams they work with, but also on customers and business results.

• A stronger career path

The skills you learn as a product manager are more broadly applicable than those of a product owner. You'll learn how to work with customers, develop strategy, use data to make decisions and inspire teams. These are valuable skills that are valued not only within your current company, but throughout the marketplace.

... Just a quick note: we send out a newsletter every three weeks that includes the latest blogs, team updates and, of course, news about the offerings in our academy. Click here to subscribe.

Newsletter sign up

Conclusion

Should everyone make the transition from product owner to product manager? No, absolutely not. The point is how the role is shaped. As a product owner, you can also work more strategically, solve customer problems and make a greater impact on business goals.

Want to discover how to better research customer problems, come up with innovative solutions, and experiment effectively? Then We'd love to help you get started with Product Discovery. Or email me (nino.van.tour@onlinedialogue.com) for a no-obligation introduction.