Project and product managers often work closely but have distinct roles. For example, a product manager sets the milestones and business trajectory of a product, while a project manager directs and leads several projects to make the milestone a reality.

Therefore, a project manager is more of a performer and the product manager, a strategic thinker.

Before discussing the difference between product and project managers, let's first understand the idea behind a product and a project, like how these terms are different.

Project Manager Vs Product Manager

1. Roles and Responsibilities

a. Project Managers

This type of manager supervises projects from the initial to the final stage. Projects are a set of tasks created to acquire a specific target. It can be massive, for instance, the construction of novel buildings, or more minor, like deploying a novel tool for leverage.

The primary roles of a project manager are to plan the project by building teams, identifying schedules, managing expenses, and interacting with stakeholders until the project is completed.

Some of the certain tasks of project managers are as follows:

• Ensuring teams are associating well, and staying motivated and on schedule.
• Develop and maintain procedures for the project changes.
• Leverage project management software to monitor schedule and tasks.

b. Product Managers

These managers oversee a product from the start to the end of its lifecycle. They set the vision of a product, manage any updates, and ensure the product satisfies customer prerequisites. 

Unlike project management, product management doesn't have a precise start and end, i.e., it doesn’t have a set timeframe.

In huge companies, product managers can take on head-wrecking tasks, as team management, and for smaller companies, they end up doing primary tasks like market research or project management.

Product managers being a new role in the market; their roles and responsibilities can vary widely from organization to organization. In general, a product manager's role includes:

• Defining key metrics
• Determine ways to enhance products via market analysis and other research
• Monitoring of competitors
• Understanding the requirements of customers and convey them to the product team
• Tracking the progress and performance of products
• Working with cross-functional teams such marketing and engineering to create product strategy
• Testing and monitoring of novel product features

2. Salary Perks: Who Earns More?

Generally, product managers earn more than project managers in the United States. According to May 2022 data from Glassdoor.com, the average salary of the project manager in the US is $88,907/year, while the product manager in the US makes an average salary of $113,446/year.

Let’s see the average salary earned by Project Manager and Product Manager in different countries.

3. Career Paths

The path to becoming a project or product manager has many in common; project managers can indeed become product managers.

a. Product Managers

Though you might become a product manager straight out of college; however, it's common to develop skills and experience beforehand. As these managers have a sound knowledge of business and customer demands, you might see them with business or marketing operations portfolios.

With experience in the product management field, the product managers can acquire the jobs as:

• Lead Product Manager
• Sr. Lead Product Manager
• Principal Product Manager
• Sr. Director of Product
• VP of Product
• Chief Product Manager

b. Project Managers

Project managers often get started in industry work. For instance, a software development project manager might work as a software developer for a few years. They might also work as a project coordinator or an associate project manager.

With experience in the project management field, the project managers can acquire the jobs as:

• Sr. Project Manager
• Project Manager IV
• Principal Project Manager
• Sr. Principal Project Manager
• Director of Construction Project Manager
• Executive Project Manager
• VP of Project Manager
• Chief Project Manager

4. Skills

For both project and product managers, soft skills are of utmost importance. Other than that, you must have some technical skills.

a. Project Managers

Some of the technical knowledge for project managers is as follows:

• Basic budgeting
• Risk management
• Planning and forecasting
• Project management methodologies such as Waterfall, Scrum, and Agile
• Project management tools such as Gantt charts and Asana.

b. Product Managers

Some of the technical knowledge for product managers is as follows:

• Data analysis
• SQL language
• A/B testing
• Product roadmap development
• Market assessment
• Price modeling
• Basic business knowledge
• Data structures and algorithms

5. Certification

Certifications aren't mandatory if you're looking forward to becoming a product or project manager. However, you an extent, the certificate offers you an edge in job applications by adding value to the resume.

Some companies seek candidates with certification in product or project management during the recruitment process. 

Project management certifications are more common than product management. Let us see the different types of accreditations fruitful for managers working in either field.

a. Project Managers

Common project management credentials are:

• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)
• Program Management Professional (PgMP)
• PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)
• Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
• Professional Scrum Master (PSM I)

b. Product Managers

Common product management credentials are:

• Pragmatic Institute - Certified Product Manager
• AIPMM Certified Product Manager Credential
• Product School - Product Manager Certificate

To build a career in the project management field and develop your skills, enroll in the iCert Global PMP Certification Training Program, a PMI-approved training provider. The course will teach you how to plan, organize, execute, and direct successful projects irrespective of the scale or complexity.

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