Episode Overview

Podcast: Product Thinking
Host: Melissa Perri
Episode: 252 – Understanding Product vs. Project Management
Date: October 15, 2025

Melissa Perri delves into one of the most persistent questions in the world of tech and business: what’s the real difference between product management and project management? She unpacks misconceptions, highlights where the two overlap, and gives clear guidance on when dedicated project or program managers are essential in an organization. The episode is framed as a "Dear Melissa" advice session, with Melissa directly answering a nuanced listener question about the “battle for supremacy” between these two functions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the Core Distinction

Timestamp: [01:45]

• Product Management (PM):
  • Owns the "why" — determining what should be built and why it matters.
  • PMs focus on discovering real problems, designing solutions, and ensuring value creation.
• Project Management:
  • Focuses on the "when" — coordinating resources and timelines to deliver the product.
  • Project managers oversee schedules, resource allocation, and completion of projects on time.

“Product management is really in charge of the why, what to build, why it matters… It’s the value creation part of it. Project management is more about the when. It’s about coordinating resources, timelines and making sure that it actually gets done.”
— Melissa Perri [02:08]

2. The Impact of Agile on Project Management

Timestamp: [03:15]

• Pre-Agile:
  • Project managers directly managed development teams, focusing on delivery dates and detailed planning (e.g., Gantt charts).
• Post-Agile:
  • Agile methodologies encouraged teams to self-manage, reducing the traditional role of project managers.
  • Responsibilities for project tracking became dispersed among product managers, engineering leads, and scrum masters.

“When Agile came around, it was more about how can the teams project manage themselves… the idea was like, we don’t need one other person to be doing that and telling us, like, get this done by this date and creating all the Gantt charts.”
— Melissa Perri [04:03]

3. The Overlap and Distribution of Responsibilities

Timestamp: [04:58]

• In Agile or lean teams, product managers take on some project management tasks, particularly around shared timelines and resource planning.
• However, this project management aspect is just a “small little subset” of the PM role; real product management is much broader, involving discovery, success metrics, and value determination.

“Project management became this like, small little subset of being a great product manager. But it’s not the only thing…”
— Melissa Perri [05:10]

4. When Do You Need Dedicated Project (or Program) Managers?

Timestamp: [06:15]

• Large, Complex Initiatives:
  • Products that cut across multiple teams or have many dependencies benefit from having dedicated project or program managers.
  • These managers coordinate across many product areas, align roadmaps, oversee timelines, and ensure cross-functional stakeholder management.

“I have seen this work really well when it comes to large, complex initiatives that have multiple dependencies and they're cut across various areas in various products... sometimes it really helps to have a project manager or a program manager.”
— Melissa Perri [07:00]

5. How Organizations Divide Responsibilities

Timestamp: [08:05]

• Smaller Companies:
  • PMs, engineering leads, and UX leads often split project management responsibilities, since their projects are more contained and less complex.
• Larger Companies or Complex Products:
  • It makes sense to add dedicated project/program managers to support coordination, risk management, and communication across teams.

“If you are in a smaller company, you will usually see product managers and engineering leads and UX designer leads taking on a lot of that project management…”
— Melissa Perri [09:32]

6. Complementary, Not Competing Roles

Timestamp: [09:45]

• PMs and project managers bring essential but distinct skill sets to product delivery.
• There’s a persistent misconception that these roles are interchangeable, but they’re not.

“This isn’t a competition. We need both skill sets to be essential for the success of products. But in a lot of places, it doesn’t make sense to have an extra project manager, especially if the work is contained and if it’s not very complex going across many things.”
— Melissa Perri [09:45]

• Critical Clarification:
  • A strong PM can also be a good project manager, but being an excellent project manager isn’t enough—you still need the strategic “why” and user discovery skills central to great product management.

“Product managers tend to be great project managers as well, but they cannot only be great project managers. They still need that why, they still need that discovery to be successful.”
— Melissa Perri [10:11]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the essence of roles:

  “Think of project management as just a little tiny piece of what product managers do.”
  — Melissa Perri [05:24]

• On when to bring in specialists:

  “Usually you would find a dedicated project manager or program manager when it comes to much larger companies, very complex products, or things that are cut across many different products.”
  — Melissa Perri [07:49]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:45] – Core distinction between product management and project management
• [03:15] – How Agile changed the role of project management
• [04:58] – The overlap and responsibilities in Agile and lean organizations
• [06:15] – When and why to use dedicated project or program managers
• [08:05] – Division of responsibilities in smaller vs. larger organizations
• [09:45] – Emphasizing the complementary nature of PM and project management

Episode Takeaways

• Product management is about defining value and answering “why” and “what.”
• Project management is about organizing projects, answering “when,” and ensuring smooth execution.
• The rise of Agile has blended these roles in smaller teams but dedicated project/program management is vital for organizational complexity.
• Both roles are necessary, but interchangeable only to a degree; understanding the difference is crucial for organizational success.

For more Q&A with Melissa or to submit your own question on product leadership, visit dearmelissa.com.