Project Manager vs Product Owner

Define a clear vision.
Product Owner is the person who should communicate with the rest of the company and understand business objectives. Then, understanding that he should be able to prepare a product Roadmap to present the business goals to the team easily. It’s on his shoulders to keep the product in line with goals and ensure the Development Team understands where they are going.

Prioritize.
As PO knows the goal, he can juggle budget, timeline, and scope for defining priorities: what should be done first and what can be done next.

Manage the Product backlog.
Ok, we already know that PO needs to prioritize, but what exactly? First, he needs to prepare a backlog (a list of functionalities that the product should contain). Then, he should manage it, which means: designing dependencies, blockers, priorities, create user stories. Here I would like to stop for a moment and have a better look at this point.

Papa Of User Stories. Poor user stories, or even lack of them, is one of the biggest complaints from the Development Team. I used to caressingly call the Product Owner a Papa of user Stories, as creating them is one of his key responsibilities. User Stories are the heart of the PO’s role as they represent the tangible elements of the vision, are prioritized, and show detailed direction. It’s an instruction for the team. The Development Team can actively help PO and provide technical support, but PO is the only one and the right person to define the pieces that are creating the final product.

Oversee development stages.
As some of the overseeing duties can be delegated e.g. to Project Manager, it’s important for PO to be present on Sprint Review and Refinement. Under these Scrum ceremonies is nothing more than checking the product under construction and seeking process improvements.

We work in Scrum or Kanban, and usually one of our PMs plays the role of Scrum Master, (until otherwise agreed at the beginning of the project). It helps our client to have the best focus on the PO role.

Other Project Manager's responsibilities are as follows:
- Weekly health-check with a team.
- Key facilitator: Their goal is to empower their team and clear potential roadblocks, paving the way for project success.
- Support the team with ‘inside’ issues.
- Feedback evaluations, team performance.
- Build process and seek improvements.
- Support PO in his role.
- Organize other ad hoc meetings, team integrations, and visits.
- Introduce new team members to the rest of the team.
- Help manage holidays.

 

Project Manager - observer
For smaller projects ( <2devs) or projects with a PM on our partner’s side, we support as active observers who start acting when the situation calls for it. It’s the minimum engagement that ensures that if something unexpected pop’s up, we’re up and ready to help you. This approach is based on weekly or biweekly health check with our partner and team, yearly evaluations, and ad hoc help.