That's crazy. It turns out that in some organizations, Product Owner and Product Manager are different job titles 😮

In this setup, the Product Manager typically talks to the business and customers, and the Product Owner (“backlog administrator”) works closely with developers, collecting and documenting “the requirements.”

I consider this one of the worst anti-patterns in Product Management.

A typical argument is that combining two roles is "too much work for a single person."

That might happen if you spend days attending useless meetings or writing detailed instructions. But if you empower others, prioritize work, and focus on value without BS, things go smoothly.

I agree with @cagan, who wrote that to succeed as a Product Manager, you need:

• Direct access to Users and Customers

• Direct access to Business Stakeholders

• Direct access to Engineers and Designer

Without proxies. Product Owner included.

The only valid setup is that the Product Manager and Product Owner are a single person with the end-to-end responsibility.

In particular, it’s essential that the Product Manager, Product Designer, and at least one Engineer conduct Product Discovery together.

Finally, if you work in Scrum, as PSPO III, I’d like to emphasize that the Product Owner is just an accountability. The Product Owner’s accountability is best fulfilled by an experienced Product Manager.

Do you agree? Disagree?

Let me know in the comments.

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More information:

• PM vs. PO according to Marty Cagan: lnkd.in/e8ZEAdYH

• Product Trio YouTube video (6:56 to 8:21): lnkd.in/eGtV4ed4

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