Are product operations and product management the same? If not, what are the crucial factors of product operations vs product management? If you are confused and curious to know about them, one – you are not the only one and two – you are at the right place.
As these two fields are so closely related, it’s easy to mix them up. While product management is concerned with the product, product operations focus on the product manager and the product process. Though both require deep product knowledge.
A combined process of product operation and product management helps a business achieve the best results. To understand the difference between these two, you must first be aware of it.
So, why late? Let’s dive deep into the topic.
Product operation is a function that works as the backbone of the product team and improves its efficiency by optimizing procedures and managing data and technology.
Its roles may vary depending on the organization, but they typically include developing product management infrastructure, simplifying communication between product and other teams, regulating planning, implementing best practices, and so on.
Product management is the complete system that oversees all phases of a product’s lifetime, focusing on building the product roadmap, prioritizing customer needs, and developing product strategy.
The foundation of product management is built on three pillars:
Product Discovery: User research, feedback, and opportunity evaluation—product managers combine all these factors to find ideas for products that understand customers’ pain points and can compete in the market.
Product Planning: In this stage, the product manager and their team sets the vision for the product and creates a roadmap for development.
Product Development: It completes the fulfillment of all the initiated steps of product discovery and planning by developing the product.
These are some major areas that differentiate Product Operations from Product Management:
While both focus on product, product operations, and product management share different objectives.
Product operations’ goal is to streamline the product management process. It identifies the blockers and creates solutions, builds repeatable procedures, and bridges the gap between the product team and other departments. Therefore boosting the team’s efficiency.
Product management goals are driven by product innovation and business growth. Mapping every stage from product planning to development, it aims to create a product that fulfills customer demand while making the maximum profit.
Product managers serve as liaisons between engineering, management, marketing, and external partners. They guarantee that product strategy is the highest priority on the entire journey, from creating the blueprint to gathering user feedback on the final product.
Product operations managers solely supervise standards and procedures. They look for ways to enhance internal processes and confirm that the product team is equipped with proper tech solutions.
Product operations empathizes with colleagues. It performs administrative responsibilities and facilitates easy communication across multiple product teams.
Product management empathizes with customers. It focuses on delivering a product that meets the needs of the customer while also meeting business objectives.
While product operations solve internal pain points like scheduling training and preparing documentation, product management focuses on external pain points like what features a product should have to solve customers’ issues.
Both product operations and product management require collaboration but in different ways.
Product operations collaborate with internal partners to foster trust and provide prompt information and resources to teams. Product operations fix problems for others by identifying the source of workflow problems, information gaps, and so on.
Product management partners with engineers and customers to plan, test, and implement ideas for new products. Throughout product development, the product manager serves as a multi-functional leader for the key product team, executives, customer-facing teams, and more.
Product operations are not directly responsible for bringing the product to market. However, it helps the product launch faster by establishing processes and connecting internal groups through clear communication.
On the other hand, product management is responsible for launching the product. Product managers are in charge of informing internal teams about the product’s development status, launch date, and other relevant information.
Factors | Product Operations | Product Management |
Diverse Goals | Streamlining product management process | Product innovation and business growth |
Strategic differences | Product strategy is the highest priority | Supervising standards and procedures |
Nature of work | Solves internal pain points | Solves external pain points |
Collaboration aspects | collaborates with internal partners | Collaborates with engineers and customers |
Go-to-Market responsibilities | helps speeding up the product launching process | responsible for launching the product |
Product managers and product operations managers both play important roles in the development and success of a product, but their areas of focus and responsibilities are different. Let’s check some of the determining factors:
Product teams require a large amount of data to function properly, such as internal and external feedback, product usage statistics, and feature requests. The product manager collects and analyzes this data to better understand the needs of the users.
Here, the product operations manager’s responsibility is to assist in the establishment and upkeep of systems and procedures for interpreting all this data. With their help, product teams get the advantage of making efficient decisions.
Product managers serve external customers or end users. They develop a roadmap for every stage of product development and bring these ideas to life by creating a product that meets customer demand.
The product operations manager’s customer is the product manager. Product operation works to increase efficiency and alignment in product development, launch, and additional sites. Thus, product managers get more time to accomplish their objectives.
Product managers decide what to build next by evaluating data, conducting interviews, and running tests based on their own ideas, customer needs, and company objectives. Finally, they create a blueprint to explain their strategies and get the support of the rest of the company.
Then, where do product operation managers fit? Well, the product operation manager supports and smooths the product manager’s tasks by upholding repeatable procedures for effectively tracking, grouping, and implementing tests.
So, that was it. Throughout the article, we have discussed product operations, product management, key factors of product operations vs product management, product managers and product operations managers, and more.
Though sharing a fair share of differences, both teams work in harmony to achieve company goals. Product management receives the greatest benefits from collaborating with product operations when both parties are aware of the product, target customers, and complete market dynamics.
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