Product Development vs. Product Management

Product Development and Product Management offer two different approaches to building and managing technical products.

Product Development typically sits in the IT department and the primary focus is technical development and coding. Product Developers are not typically known to have general business savvy or the best communication skills. UIs designed by Product Developers are not always user-friendly or intuitive. Since Product Developers approach everything from an IT perspective key requirements may be missed or done incorrectly that negatively impact the final product.

Product Management typically is its own independent department and the primary focus is the full life cycle of a given product. This includes assessing market demand, specifying requirements, managing the product roadmap, understanding the impact to all internal and external stakeholders, participating in UAT, training, promotion, and financial accountability. Product Management is effectively a hub with spokes out to numerous stakeholders. This structure fosters better cross-functional collaboration and faster decision making.

Is one structure better than the other? I believe the Product Management structure delivers better results for both clients and internal stakeholders.