Contrasting the Product Manager and Product Owner Roles on an Agile Team

Explain how the role of a product manager differs from that of a product owner. ```hint Separate the job from the framework Think about where each title comes from, and what each one is accountable for over a single sprint compared with over a year. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I answer in general terms, or for a team that runs Scrum or a scaled agile framework where both titles exist? - Would you like me to relate the answer to this role, including whether it combines both? - Are you more interested in the formal definitions or in how the two roles work together day to day? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Where each title comes from and what each is accountable for - Differences in time horizon, artifacts, partners and how success is measured, illustrated with an example - When the roles are split across two people and when one person holds both - The risks of each setup and how a product manager and a product owner should divide decisions - A link to the candidate's own experience and to the role being hired for ### Follow-up Questions - If you held both roles, how would you keep discovery from being crowded out by sprint work? - A product owner and a product manager disagree on what the team should build next sprint. Who decides, and how? - Which of the two does this role sound like to you, and why?