There may sometimes be confusion in what product management vs. project management does in a company. This blog post describes the difference and why it is essential to have both established within a company, with example of MOBA.

In our case, the product management ist responsible for the MOBA product portfolio and ist marketing and maintenance. The product manager always has one ear to the customer or in the field, analyzing what is needed, when and how.

Important questions asked are: which new products and systems are innovative and bring great benefits to customers as well as to MOBA. Product managers generally create the requirement lists for new products and systems and supervise them in the market during the whole product life cycle. In the event of a change request, they coordinate the implementation of the changes and plan the introduction into the market. The Tasks of the MOBA product managers thus range from planning, to marketing, to the phasing-out of products and systems.

The MOBA project management works as describes in the ISO 21500 standard. It`s the implementation of methods, tools, techniques and competences in one project. A project is an undertaking which is essentially characterized by the uniqueness of the conditions in its entirety, e.g. target, time, financial, human and other limitations; delimitation against other projects and project-specific organization. A project is always characterized by a defined framework and has a set end. The MOBA project managers work closely together with the development department by coordinating the activities from the kickoff meeting to the prototype stage until the start of production.

In conclusion, without an established project management, companies risk not being able managing their projects efficiently and on time. Companies without a good functioning project management often result in lower product quality and mediocre customer satisfaction. Product managers, on the other hand, need to be accountable for their products and market decisions. Excellent products require both!