Skip to main content

The classic product owner vs product manager debate. Who’s really in charge of product development?

The answer? It depends. Their roles shift based on the product’s maturity, company size, structure, Agile practices, and overall vision.

Same goal, different playbooks:

  • Product managers define strategy, vision, and the roadmap.
  • Product owners execute the plan, managing the backlog and ensuring timely delivery.

A business thrives on great products, but smooth execution? That’s where clarity in roles makes all the difference.

Product Owner vs Product Manager

The difference between a product owner and a product manager is notable. While there is some overlap, both are defined quite differently.

A comparison between product managers and product owners in the areas of product planning, understanding customers, organizing work, deciding on features, working with the team, and improving the product.

What Does a Product Manager Do?

The product manager's role is to oversee the entire product lifecycle—from early ideation and customer research to launch and delivery—ensuring it aligns with both user needs and business goals. They act as the bridge between teams—engineering, marketing, sales, and customer support—keeping everyone aligned on the product’s direction. Their role is to turn high-level ideas into real, impactful products.

While the PM role can vary depending on the company, core responsibilities typically include:

  • Market Research & Customer Insights – Product managers analyze market trends, customer feedback, and competitor strategies to understand where the product fits and how it can stand out. They gather insights through user testing, surveys, and data analytics.
  • Defining Product Strategy – They create a long-term vision for the product, identifying key opportunities and setting goals that align with business objectives.
  • Creating & Managing the Roadmap – A PM builds a structured plan that outlines product development, ensuring that all teams are working toward the same milestones.
  • Prioritizing Features & Development – They determine what to build next by weighing customer needs, business impact, and technical feasibility, using prioritization frameworks like MoSCoW or RICE.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration – Product managers work closely with engineering, design, sales, marketing, and stakeholders to ensure smooth execution of the product roadmap.
  • Execution & Delivery – They oversee the development process, making sure features are built, tested, and launched on time while maintaining high quality.

In short, product managers own the why, when, and what of a product. They ensure every decision aligns with user needs and business goals, driving a product from concept to completion in a way that creates real value.


Related Read: 10 Best Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software

What Does a Product Owner Do?

The term product owner can be misleading—it doesn’t mean owning the final product or the company that produces it. Instead, it comes from Scrum, a scaled Agile framework for building and supporting complex products.

We’ve collected the goods — AI prompts, exclusive deals, and a library of resources for product leaders. Unlock your account for access.

We’ve collected the goods — AI prompts, exclusive deals, and a library of resources for product leaders. Unlock your account for access.

The Scrum Framework

A Scrum framework, created by a Scrum team, defines a product owner as someone who is “responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Development Team.”

What does this mean? The product owner acts as the voice of the customer, translating user needs into actionable tasks for the development team.

The Product Backlog: The Core of the Role

A product owner manages the product backlog—a prioritized list of tasks that includes:

  • New feature requests
  • Changes to existing features
  • Bug fixes
  • Any other updates needed to achieve the product’s goals

Since the backlog guides the Agile team’s work, backlog refinement (grooming) is a critical and ongoing responsibility.

Key Responsibilities of a Product Owner

  • Turning customer feedback into action – Converts user complaints, issues, and requests into user stories that drive development.
  • Prioritizing the backlog – Ensures the development team focuses on the most impactful tasks first.
  • Aligning production priorities – Defines what gets built next based on product goals and business needs.
  • Facilitating team collaboration – Works closely with internal stakeholders, including the Scrum Master, to keep development on track.
  • Bridging communication – Serves as the key link between the customer and the development team, ensuring alignment.
  • Providing feedback on the roadmap – Communicates with the product manager to ensure development efforts align with the broader product strategy.

Related Read: 10 Best Agile Product Management Software For 2021

Product Owner vs. Product Manager

While a product manager oversees the product from concept to launch, a product owner has a more focused role—working closely with the development team to ensure the product roadmap is executed.

  • The product manager defines what gets built and ensures it aligns with customer needs and business goals.
  • The product owner ensures the development team builds it correctly and efficiently, following the roadmap.

No matter whose role it is, ultimately both functions will need to be fulfilled in order to deliver a successful product.

Decision-Making Differences: How Product Managers and Product Owners Shape the Product

Imagine a startup launching a new product—an AI-powered task management app. The PM is thinking big-picture: Who is our target user? How does this align with our business goals? What’s our pricing model? Meanwhile, the PO is deep in the execution: Which features are ready for the next sprint? Are the user stories detailed enough? Does the development team have clear priorities?

This difference in decision-making scope is what sets the roles of a Product Manager and a Scrum Product Owner apart. While both roles influence the product, they operate at different levels of strategic impact and execution within software development.

I’m a big fan of putting the people who know the product best—those who manage and work with it daily—in charge of making strategic product decisions, and empowering them to do so.

-Roman Pichler, Founder of Pichler Consulting

The CPO Club: Strategic Roadmapping

Think of the product manager as the captain, setting the course for long-term product success. Their decisions are guided by market insights, business objectives, product roadmapping, and customer needs, ensuring they create a great product that delivers real product value.

  • Vision & Roadmap – “This AI task manager should target remote teams and integrate with Slack and Google Calendar.”
  • Market & Business Decisions – “Based on competitor analysis, we should focus on AI-powered task suggestions as a differentiator.”
  • Stakeholder Alignment – “We need buy-in from leadership, marketing, and sales to ensure successful adoption.”
  • Metrics & Product Performance – “How do we measure product success? Are our key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with business goals?”

The Product Owner: The Tactical Executor

The PO is like the first mate on the ship, ensuring everything runs smoothly on a daily basis. They apply Scrum methodologies and focus on delivering incremental product improvements while ensuring timelines are met.

  • Sprint & Backlog Management – “In this sprint, we’ll build AI-generated task categories and test the algorithm with real users.”
  • Technical Feasibility Decisions – “The API for Slack integration has limitations, so we’ll need an alternative solution.”
  • Developer Support – “I’ll clarify the user story requirements for AI task suggestions so the team can build it efficiently.”
  • User Experience & Execution – “How do we ensure seamless task automation that enhances workflow efficiency?”

Product Owner vs Product Manager: Salary Guide

One thing that can come into the equation when deciding who a company needs is average product manager and owner salaries. That can affect annual budgets and profit margins. 

A product owner makes on average $107K USD per year and product managers make an average of around $127K USD. 

Do You Really Need Both Roles?

Product manager? Product owner? Both? The answer isn’t about job titles—it’s about what drives the best product outcome.

Before deciding on structure, ask:

  • What’s the end goal?
  • Where are the bottlenecks?
  • Who’s handling what now?
  • Is decision-making smooth or sluggish?

Many businesses get stuck in rigid structures that no longer serve them. A fresh look at product analytics, decision-making, and team dynamics can reveal whether you need two distinct roles or a blended one. Some companies combine product ownership and management with product, analytics, and strategy, tailoring the role to fit their needs.

Final Thoughts


One good way to know what a Product Manager really does is by getting to know one—or 29! Here are 29 Top Product Management Experts To Watch.

Sign up for The CPO Club newsletter for more product management insights delivered biweekly to your inbox.

Ben Aston

Ben Aston is an online media entrepreneur and founder of Black & White Zebra, an indie media company on a mission to help people and organizations succeed.

Ben applies his expertise in design and strategy to enable businesses to deliver innovative products and services that delight customers. Ben is passionate about understanding customer needs through design research, identifying opportunities based on those insights, and empowering designers and technologists to create solutions. He is driven to develop and uncover new opportunities for clients, establishing strong connections with their customers through product solutions that create lasting value.