Product Management vs. Project Management

Sometimes the job descriptions of product management and project management can blend together. The problem is without a true understanding of the definitions, it can be difficult to grasp the concepts as distinct from one another. Certainly, on the one hand management is management. Whether you are managing products or a project, the general concept could be seen as the same.

Of course, where this becomes important is in understanding your role managing people in relation to these fields. First, take a moment to understand the two different job roles.

Product management – Generally, product management is the field of overseeing the aspects of what makes up a life cycle of a product. This can begin from the very first step to the last, which would mean concept and design to marketing and selling. For that reason, project management would probably be part of the job duties of someone who is handling product management, but the opposite may not be true.

Project management - This is overseeing a project, which could be a variety of things from designing a product to building it to planning the marketing or sales details. Although as a project manager you may be adding your own ideas, you may also simply be monitoring and helping motivate the individual or team responsible for making the project happen.

What’s the Big Difference?

The bottom line is that a good manager of either kind will know and understand the differences that make up the job title. One of the biggest differences is that a product manager often has the long term goal of improving the manner in which a product’s life cycle carries out. This could mean better design, more efficient production, better marketing or improved sales of the product. Regardless, it means the goal is pretty much always going to involve that product.

A project manager, on the other hand, has smaller individual goals. This doesn’t mean the goals are any less important. It just means instead of your entire career focusing on the one goal of bettering the life cycle of one product, you have shorter goals but more of them. You may even be the product manager overseeing the type of projects previously mentioned such as designing the product, improving productivity, launching a marketing campaign or coming up with an unbeatable sales pitch. Either way, once the project is complete, the goal has been met and the next goal becomes the focus.

The other thing to keep in mind is that in the position of one of these roles you may be working with someone in the other role. To keep things running smoothly and successfully, it is as important to establish a good working relationship with this other person as it is your own staff.

Working together and establishing a good line of communication can only benefit both project manager and production manager. Of course, it is also a crucial part of your job to keep your own team informed and motivated to successfully meet goals.

Staff Picks: Success Tips for Salespeople and Top Performers

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Written by Dayna Steele, who is a serial entrepreneur and author who travels the country creating rock stars with her “Rock Star Principles of Success.” You can also listen to the podcast version of her Fast Company Leader blogs on iTunes.

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Written by Heidi Grant Halvorson, who is a motivational psychologist, speaker, and author. Her research has focused on identifying the strategies that help us overcome obstacles to success at work and in our personal lives. Her new book is Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals. She also serves on the Board of Advisors to the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia University Business School, and she blogs regularly for HBR, Fast Company, and Huffington Post.

Advice for First-Time Managers

first time managersCongratulations! You’ve finally been promoted to “manager.” While the bump in salary and new job title are nice, you now have heaps of responsibility you didn’t have before. As a manager, part of your new job is being responsible for the growth and well-being of an entire team.

You may be crying for help at this point. I spoke with a few recently-appointed managers and an executive coach to get their tips for first-time managers.

  • Get to know your people and what they want. Take as much time as possible in the beginning of your transition to get to know your direct reports. Talk to them about their career goals, what they want out of their current position, and how you can best support them.
  • Learn to see your work through others. As a manager, you’ll likely be spending most of your time in meetings, discussions with senior management, and one-on-one conversations with your team, which will leave you less time to work on your own projects. You’ll eventually begin to see your work shine through your team as you give direction and offer guidance.
  • Listen. The ability to listen to your team and give guidance without assuming you immediately know the right answer will be critical as you spend more one-on-one time with your employees.
  • Develop your own style. While it may feel easy or natural to mimic the management tactics of your previous boss, those same tactics might not work for you. Instead, think about what they did and how you can learn from them to develop your own style.
  • Don’t expect to “get it” at first. One of the biggest misconceptions held by first-time managers is that they’ll be good at management from the get-go. In most cases, though, new managers need training and development just like any new hire within an organization.

What tips do you have for new managers?

Jennifer King is an HR Analyst at Software Advice, a company that reviews and compares recruiting and employee performance review software. She reports on trends, technology, and best practices related to HR. Read the full article on her HR blog.

What is Product Management?

Product Management t-shirtOne of the ways our customers are using Bloomfire is as product management software, or as a way to keep everyone on the same page. If you aren’t already familiar with the term product management, it is probably something you should familiarize yourself with. You may be applying for this type of position, your current role may have been altered to include this role or your company may be talking about moving you to this position as a promotion. Whatever the case may be, having a clearer understanding of what product management is will help you in your profession regardless. So what is product management?

Here are three basic concepts to know that help define the role:

  • Product management is more of an organized structure utilized within a business or other organization to manage certain aspects of the business or organization.
  • Generally, this system is used to manage the design, development, marketing and sales of the products from the business or organization.
  • Although not all product management includes the entire product life cycle, many of these roles do manage the life cycle from beginning to end.

Of course, once you get into the role of product management you may find your own position also includes other roles or duties you hadn’t really considered. For this reason, it is a good idea to comprehend the role of product management not just the defined concept.

Product Management – The Detail of the Duties

As part of product management, there are some areas you may be expected to focus on. If this role or title is new to you, these are things to at least be aware of so they are not new concepts to you. For instance, you may also need to be familiar with:

  • Market research – If your organization wants to find out how relevant the product they intend to design and market is to the industry, obviously doing market research is how to make this happen.
  • Project management – Overseeing the production of an individual or team may also be part of your duties or responsibilities when it comes to product management.
  • Motivation and sales – This is more than to the customers, you know. Selling starts with those reps who will be selling the product. Get your sales team informed and excited about the product, and your sales efforts will show gains.
  • Marketing – If you are responsible for the product through the life cycle, helping market the product is a big part of this. Pick up at least some basic knowledge and skills in the important world of marketing and you will set yourself up to be an even better candidate in the world of product management.

This is certainly far from the end of the list of duties that could be included under the title “product manager.” However, it should give you some insight as to other things you could be faced with taking care of as well. Product management can be exciting and full of so many interesting tasks duties that even if the roles go beyond what you expect it can be an extremely rewarding career choice.

Understanding The Importance of a Marketing Portal

A marketing portal is an important way to understand the important world of sales. Creating a marketing portal is a way for all people involved in a potential sale to get connected and get the information they may need. This can even include all aspects of production management. If this still sounds like talking circles around the issue, consider this first:

By definition, a portal is a doorway or a gate to something else.

It is as simple as that! A sales or marketing portal is the doorway used to enter through and get to the next step, which is a sale, generating leads or even converting a lead into a sale. For your company to succeed, though, it is crucial to have this portal in place. Without it, your staff and potential customer reach a dead end.

What is a Marketing Portal for?

If you want to reach the next step in your process, the portal is what you step through to arrive there. There are many things you can use a marketing portal for, but some of the most important ones include:

Sales Training - For introducing new concepts to established staff members or offering training to new hires, a marketing portal can offer this training and link to information from other experts in the field. This can even mean getting the answers needed from their own sales managers or production management team.

Training tools - This can include valuable marketing tools such as videos, presentations and spreadsheets as well as so much more. It is an easy way to share data and get questions answered. An effective training tool such as this can be accessed at the moment needed by use of smartphones, tablets or other mobile devices as well as more traditional PCs and laptops. This means training at the fingertips as opposed to setting up time consuming and expensive workshops.

In the field - This means even if your sales staff needs answers in the field to make that sale happen, the right software will help make this happen. Gone are the days when your sales team loses out on sales by not getting the answers they need for their customers. Having this valuable tool for your sales staff increases the conversion rate. Not to mention this creates a portal where there could have been a dead end.

Who Needs a Marketing Portal?

The answer could easily be anyone who has a product or service to sell. Without it, you and your sales team may only reach dead ends. A marketing portal helps convert your potential sales leads into actual sales. It also improves morale as valuable sales team members know they can get the answers needed.

Help your staff get the training they need and answer questions they may have on the go with software that acts as your marketing portal (we think you’ll like Bloomfire). Watch the transformation that can happen when you turn dead ends into open doorways by using marketing portal so your leads can step through and become converted to sales.

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