Product development and product management are essentially different functions, but they are both important when it comes to developing the products that the users prefer.

FREMONT, CA: The lines between product management and product development is blurry for many teams. The product managers shoehorn their work into tools not built for the job, and the engineers struggle with a long task list that is not prioritized by strategic criteria. Although product development tools are essential for keeping the projects on track, the problem is that these product development tools are not designed for product management. This the reason why top product teams are turning to dedicated product management tools to manage their workflow; in this way, both types of tools can be utilized to make life easier for everyone.

Product development and product management

The product manager's function is an essential intermediary between customer-facing teams and stakeholders throughout the business. That entire process can be managed within a particular product management system, and the main output is a product roadmap, the close-term and long-term vision of in which direction a company is headed through its products, features, and solutions. The roadmap flows seamlessly into the development process, forming the foundation for the development team's work.

These projects and feature ideas are then brought down into technical tasks. Product development tools enable the development team to manage these tasks as they go into production.

Benefits from increased visibility and control of their roadmap

It can be problematic to gain visibility into the status of a feature or idea when everything is monitored in the same product development tool, and including additional states for research, validation, discovery, and backlog grooming can quickly overwhelm everyone involved.

Instead, a dedicated product management system provides the product managers the control they require to deliver great products. Product teams can score and prioritize tasks and stories more effectively, defining product objectives and drivers in the common product prioritization frameworks. These individual drivers' value can then be rolled up into a prioritization score, weighted according to exact requirements.

Product managers can have their own homes to think about high-level customer needs and objectives. And when they're ready to pass on the torch to the development team, features can be automatically synced between the two tools with a minimum fuss.

See Also: Top Product Management Solution Companies