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toc Project Versus Product Management  By Felik Budyanto

=**Introduction**= I think there are quite many Management concepts, such as Program Management, Project Management, and Product Management. And sometimes it confuses us about relationship and also differences between one and another. So with this article I’ll try to tell little bit about relationship and also differences between Project and Product Management. And also I will tell little bit about Life Cycle about these two things, because I think there is a strong relationship between them. At first I will start explaining the concepts of these two things.

=**Project Management**= When we talk about Project Management, it will be better when we start about what is Project Management actually. Project Management is business process of creating a unique result[|(1)]. Result of this Project Management can be many things, an example it’s also possible that the result of this Project Management is a Product. Why it’s possible I will explain more about it later. As maybe we know, there are some unique characteristics in Project Management such as: Have specific objective (which may be unique or one-of-a-kind) to be completed with certain specifications Have defined start and end dates Have funding limits (if applicable) Consume human and nonhuman resources (i.e. money, people, and equipment) Be multifunctional (cut across several functional lines) There also a humor regarding what is Project Management, it says that Project Management is the art of creating the illusion that any outcome is the result of a series of predetermined, deliberate acts when, in fact, and it was dumb luck. Liked I said before, in Project Management there also some phases named as Project Life Cycle. This life cycle defines a project in some phases. These phases are : Why we need to define Project Life Cycle, because with this we can know where we are now, and which we have already achieved, and which we still have to achieve. In Project Management there is also a Project Leader, name as Project Manager. This Project Manager is the one who manage a project and the one responsible whether the project will succeed. When we talk about such a big project it’s also possible that there are also some Project Managers, but the main point is that there is always the one as a leader.
 * Defining
 * Planning
 * Executing
 * Delivering

=**Product Management**=

When we talk about Product Management, we also need to talk about Product Life Cycle, because these two have ties. Liked before, we started with definition about Product management. Product Management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the planning of marketing of a product at all stages of the Product Life Cycle[|(2)]. Next we talk about definition of Product Life Cycle. Product Life Cycle is like a life cycle of a product, from this product develops until it dies. Why this is also important to know, because the Product Life Cycle defines the relation between cost and earn value.

And these are the phases in Product Life Cycle Same as Project Management, there’s also a leader who is responsible to manage and to make sure that this product will succeed and earn so much money as possible. And it’s called Product Manager.
 * Idea or Research and Development
 * Market Introduction
 * Growth
 * Deterioration (Decline)
 * Death

=**Relation and difference between Project and Product Management**=

At first I will try to define the difference between Project and Product Management. Actually the main difference between these two is in their scope. Project scope defines the work that must be accomplished to produce a deliverable with specified features or functions. The deliverable can be a product, service, or other result. Product scope defines the features or function that characterizes the deliverable. After we talk little bit about the difference between these two, right now I’ll try to define the relation between these two. Actually these two have a really strong relation, because actually Project Management is like part of any other Management, in this case we talk about Product Management. Why I say like that, because as we now before, in Product Management, we prepare everything about a product from development phase until this product dies. Same as in Product Life Cycle, in Development phase of Product life cycle, we need Project Management. Why we need Project Management in this phase, because to achieve such a good product we also need good planning, and we can easy achieve that in Project Management, because Project Management is designed to do that. Maybe it’s easier to understand when we make an example. An example BMW wants to make new 3serie. So as we all know, it starts with development phase in Product Life Cycle. But like I said before, we need Project Management in this phase, and we do every step in Project Life Cycle which is from planning until we finish a new 3serie.And that means we already finished development phase in Product Life Cycle. After that we can continue to next phase, which is to introduce this new model to market, and to wait till this product grows, matures, and so on. This picture can also help our understanding of this concept.

And here I have another chart talking about this concept. As we can see in this chart, there are phases in new business where we develop and plan a product, which are the responsibility of Project Management. And also after it becomes a product, it becomes an ongoing business, and be a part of Product Management.

=**Conclusion**=

So as conclusion, although there is a difference in scope between Project and Product Management, actually these two things have a really strong relationship. Because Product Management needs Project Management in Development phase. And the result in this case is a product. Like I said before, Project Management is like part or any other Management, in this case we talk about Product Management, because as we can read before, product is one of possible results of Project Management. Maybe for little help to understand about these two things and also Project and Product Life Cycle, I have a power point presentation. And here the link[| plcvsprolc.pdf]

=**References**= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_management http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Project-Management-Knowledge-Guides/dp/193069945X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226244443&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Project-Management-Approach-Scheduling-Controlling/dp/0471741876/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4_rsrsrs0