I started my career as a project manager, but quickly realized I wasn’t a people-pusher. That realization led me into product management — and along the way, I discovered how dangerously blurred the line between the two roles often is.
I’ve seen so many “products” with job descriptions that belong to project managers, and so many projects that were treated like products.
One moment that stuck with me was a conversation with another “product” manager:
Her: Have you heard about the upcoming integration? Me: Yes, we’ve scheduled it for next quarter. Her: Why wait? The business wants it yesterday. Me: And what about the users? Do they want it yesterday too? Her: Users? No, it’s about strengthening our business offering. Me: Exactly — but since it doesn’t solve a customer problem, it’s not a priority right now. Her: But the stakeholders have decided… Me: And as Head of Product, it’s my responsibility to prioritize what delivers the most value to paying customers — even if that means pushing back on stakeholder requests.
This was just one example of a much larger issue: the ongoing confusion between product management and project management.
Project Manager
If you Google the term “Project Management” then you will probably find a Wikipedia page:
Project management is the process of supervising the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints… The primary constraints are scope, time and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet predefined objectives.
And if you love decomposing complex terms as I do you will get into this kind of a description: project management is a process of controlling a team to achieve a goal with the given recourses and budget.
Now, if you apply to a person, then a project manager is a human that controls the team and pushes them to achieve a goal. Without a team, a project manager cannot achieve a goal and Project Manager’s job is not to achieve a goal, but to push the team in the right direction, given the existing limitations.
Product Manager
As we remember, from my post about Product management, product manager acts as the bridge between business and engineering. Unlike project managers, they don’t just push the team around — they actively contribute by defining vision, prioritizing features, and aligning the team around customer and business needs. Products evolve over time, and the product manager helps ensure that evolution creates lasting value.
Product v Project
| Aspect | Project Manager | Product Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Core Role | Directs and coordinates the team to achieve a specific goal within time, budget, scope. | Bridges business and engineering to shape and evolve a product that delivers long-term value. |
| Focus | Delivering projects on time, on budget, on scope. | Delivering products that solve problems, delight users, and drive business growth. |
| Contribution | Doesn’t produce the outcome directly; ensures the team executes effectively. | Actively contributes by defining vision, prioritizing features, and aligning stakeholders. |
| Constraints | Works within fixed timeframes, budgets, and resources. | Works within market needs, business goals, and evolving customer feedback. |
| Time Horizon | Short to medium term — ends when the project goal is achieved. | Continuous and long term — product evolves over its lifecycle. |
| Success Metric | Was the project delivered on time, within scope, and on budget? | Is the product valuable, usable, and successful in the market? |
| Without a Team | Cannot achieve the goal — relies entirely on the team to execute. | Still contributes — brings business context, customer insights, and product strategy. |
Bottom Line
Over the years, I’ve seen more product managers wearing two hats — often picking up project responsibilities along the way. That’s understandable: as product managers, we are responsible not only for the value we bring to customers, but also for the resources and time we use to deliver it.
In larger companies, these roles are separated. Product managers usually sit in R&D or IT, while project managers work in operations. And in agile or scrum environments, the project manager role simply doesn’t exist — it belongs to waterfall, and eventually may even be replaced by AI.
Project management is about delivery. Product management is about value. Mixing them weakens both.