I find that with the invention of agile project management, a lot of confusion began. In the old days, product management was a distinct profession focused on planning business needs — specifically, how a product should evolve. Back then, "product" implied something tangible, something that is physically produced. Once that was defined, another profession took over: the project manager, who was responsible for realizing the desired change.
With the growing importance of software, what was formerly called a "service" — an immaterial customer offering — suddenly became a "product," and product managers started caring about implementation details. This blurring of boundaries, combined with mixing agile and classical project management, creates enormous confusion, because the same terminology is now used for completely different things.
This is precisely why I appreciate your attempt to coin something new. A clearly defined hybrid approach may well be the clarity our fast-moving, profit-oriented world needs as well.
Thank you for the further insight on the evolution of product management's integration (or blurring) into the work mixture as well as your support for this work to clarify our common language around pro-port management.
I do think advancing the language is needed, particularly to support lower- and mid-tier careerists in this space who don't have great internal mentorship. I clearly remember the day I started calling the work I was making "products," which felt dramatically at odds with the culture at a non-profit, but it helped clarify the work and led me to the right educational resources.
There's always so much more to learn and discover in this space. Thank you for your partnership!
I find that with the invention of agile project management, a lot of confusion began. In the old days, product management was a distinct profession focused on planning business needs — specifically, how a product should evolve. Back then, "product" implied something tangible, something that is physically produced. Once that was defined, another profession took over: the project manager, who was responsible for realizing the desired change.
With the growing importance of software, what was formerly called a "service" — an immaterial customer offering — suddenly became a "product," and product managers started caring about implementation details. This blurring of boundaries, combined with mixing agile and classical project management, creates enormous confusion, because the same terminology is now used for completely different things.
This is precisely why I appreciate your attempt to coin something new. A clearly defined hybrid approach may well be the clarity our fast-moving, profit-oriented world needs as well.
Hi Uwe,
Thank you for the further insight on the evolution of product management's integration (or blurring) into the work mixture as well as your support for this work to clarify our common language around pro-port management.
I do think advancing the language is needed, particularly to support lower- and mid-tier careerists in this space who don't have great internal mentorship. I clearly remember the day I started calling the work I was making "products," which felt dramatically at odds with the culture at a non-profit, but it helped clarify the work and led me to the right educational resources.
There's always so much more to learn and discover in this space. Thank you for your partnership!
- Casey