Product Manager Vs. Product Designer
Question: "What is the difference between a Product Manager and a Product Designer?"
The Blackblot PMTK Methodology™ views the Product Manager as a strategic role in the problem space that is responsible for managing the market problem that the product solves.
More specifically, the product manager is a strategic role in the problem space, owned by an analytical and articulate problem-teller, a market expert with a formalized mindset.
According to PMTK, the Product Architect is a tactical role in the solution space responsible for devising a functional solution to the market problem.
A product expert, a problem-solver with a technical background and a deterministic mindset, owns the product architect role.
Product Architecturing is a discipline focused on a product's formation, structure, and design.
The Product Architect title is synonymous with solution architect, business analyst, systems analyst, requirements engineer, requirements manager, and product designer.
The product manager is responsible for describing "What to solve?" and the product architect is tasked with answering "How to solve?".
At some companies, one person owns the product manager and product architect roles and is responsible for describing both the market problem and devising a functional solution.
Combining the roles is mainly done to save money, avoid contention, and the belief that one can simultaneously and successfully hold responsibilities in the problem and solution spaces.
However, having one individual perform product management and product architecturing is a flawed situation marked by conflicts of interest, skewed priorities, time scarcity, and shifting focus.