Product strategy vs. product management: What’s the difference?

Every organization providing a product to customers needs to think carefully about every single one of its components.

From planning and defining what you want your product to be and building it to the marketing plan that accompanies a launch, having these structural components in place can influence the product’s success.

Product strategy and product management can nurture the product’s lifecycle from beginning to end. Defining a product strategy and implementing product management can ensure your team not only stays on track but also maximizes every opportunity to enhance your products and better serve your customers.

A product strategy is a plan to define what you’re aiming to achieve with a product throughout its lifecycle. It should fulfill your customers’ needs and answer the question of why the product exists and how your value proposition can naturally evolve.

Product strategy should also measure a product’s overall success over time, revealing how well the product is hitting its goals and outlining potential red flags when something needs changing.

Ultimately, a product strategy is the binding link between:

1. Your company’s business objectives

2. Your vision for a specific product

The company’s mission is what kickstarts any strategy, and the specific vision for the product then complements it. With those two elements in place, you can build a strategy that answers the following questions:

• How will the product serve customers’ needs?

• What resources do we need to bring the product to fruition?

• What are the budgetary requirements?

A product strategy should look different from product to product, just as it should from company to company.

It’s not always easy to create a winning product strategy. In fact, crafting a product strategy that thoughtfully aligns the business’s needs and goals with the target market’s desires can take considerable time and effort.

Who sets a product strategy?

The head of a product team will typically design and implement the product strategy. The product team leader should communicate the strategy to every member of the team as well as company stakeholders, sharing who’s responsible for what components and following up on major initiatives.

In smaller companies or startups where a product team isn’t yet established, the company founder and potentially other members of the executive team may be the ones to define a product strategy.

While product strategy is responsible for long-term planning and high-level goals, product management is all about executing the strategy through day-to-day operations. The focus is on tactical milestones like features to be added and enhanced, backlog management, and managing product key performance indicators (KPIs).

A product manager is usually responsible for the following:

• Following up on tasks and operations

• Coordinating with team members

• Telling stakeholders and other business leaders when key objectives have been completed.

They may also have to complete varied tasks such as:

• Conducting market research

• Conducting customer surveys to gather user feedback

• Researching product competition

Product strategy and product management inform each other, but there are many differences between them.

• Product strategy sets the vision for the project, outlining overall goals. Product management is the execution of those goals through daily and weekly tasks.

• Product strategy is often used in company road mapping, while product management is more directly involved in decisions about budgeting and resource management.

• Company stakeholders are more likely to regularly discuss product strategy with team members in town halls and briefings, while product management is likely to be directly involved in day-to-day conversations with team members.

• Product management is more directly involved in matters of customer feedback and needs. Meanwhile, product strategy takes a more high-level approach, analyzing aggregate customer needs and evaluating market opportunities where businesses have room to grow and expand.

It’s important to have a solid product strategy and a strong product management plan in place.

Product strategy can provide guidance and high-level initiatives that act as a guiding light or “north star” for the rest of the company to follow. Crucially, product management ensures that the daily tasks related to the development and launch of new products and services are accomplished.

Product strategy doesn’t just guide product development. It guides the rest of the company’s actions as well. Strategic goals can include everything from increasing market share to growing revenue, all of which are related to the products a business puts on the market.

Through it all, those involved in outlining goals and following through on products should keep the target customer’s needs and feedback in mind.

Invest time and resources into understanding what your customers want and what it would take to develop a product that fulfills those needs. A business that can accurately predict its customers’ pain points and takes the time to develop products that make their lives easier will be poised for success in an increasingly challenging business landscape.

Product management and product strategy both require talented leaders and their skills. These talents may be nurtured and developed over time.

Being a product manager means wearing many hats. The role sits at the intersection of user experience and management, often calling for some technical experience as well as strong critical thinking skills.

Whether you’re planning on hiring a product manager or you’re working to become one yourself, here are a few of the skills the role requires:

• User-centric approach: a product manager translates long-term strategic goals into practical ones that serve your target customers. To that end, a product manager should be able to advocate for customers at every stage of the development process, working with designers and developers to integrate features that actively solve user concerns.

• Problem-solving skills: a good product manager should be an excellent problem-solver with the ability to think on their feet and find workarounds to issues. This isn’t just for the actual product development phase but also for cross-functional management. Product managers may address everything from workload issues to a lack of internal resources.

• Interpersonal skills: every strong manager should be an effective communicator with a gift for nurturing interpersonal relationships. As a product manager, you’ll be responsible for aligning various team members all with different personalities. From finding common ground to discovering new ways to motivate your team, interpersonal skills will come into play every day in one form or another.

Product strategists need to employ many of the same skills as product managers. Here are some of the main skills required for success in the role:

• Data analysis and market research: as much of product strategy is focused on long-term business goals and solutions, product strategists will often be asked to review and interpret vast amounts of data. They might also have to take an active role in market research projects, from conducting customer surveys to analyzing competitive offerings.

• Collaboration skills: product strategists must work with many departments and team members, from product developers and designers to CEOs and team leaders. Having strong collaboration skills can make it easier to excel in the role and form productive alliances with many different people across the organization.

• Strategic thinking: just as product managers need excellent problem-solving skills to thrive, product strategists often need to call upon their ability to think and plan strategically. Product strategists have to look at the company’s big picture, aligning long-term goals and high-level values with the specific projects and products the company plans to roll out. Understanding what makes sense and what doesn’t and being able to communicate those thoughts succinctly will make you not only an esteemed collaborator but also an asset to your organization.

A product strategist is not necessarily higher in the company’s hierarchy than a product manager—although they could be. Depending on your company structure, a product strategist might work on the same team as the product manager or be a part of the executive team.

The highest level of product management within an organization is typically the chief product officer (CPO). The CPO is usually in charge of monitoring and managing all levels or branches of product management.

These two roles are closely connected. They work together, but they undertake different tasks and responsibilities.

A product specialist excels in in-depth technical expertise, customer support, and training, ensuring users fully understand and effectively use the product. They address specific technical issues and provide feedback. A product manager, however, is strategic, focusing on market analysis, product vision, and cross-functional leadership, ensuring the product aligns with market needs and business goals.

The specialist is detail-oriented and reactive, while the manager is big-picture and proactive, guiding the product from concept to market success.