Product Manager vs Project Manager vs Scrum Master: Who Owns What on a Team

During a product manager interview, you are asked to explain how a product manager's role differs from a project manager's and from a scrum master's. ```hint Start from accountability For each role, ask what it is ultimately held responsible for and which decisions it gets to make. The differences, and the places where the roles rub against each other, follow from that. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I assume a team that runs Scrum, with a product owner, or a more traditional project setup with a fixed plan? - Are you looking for the general distinctions, or for how I have worked alongside these roles in practice? - On the teams you have in mind, does each role sit with a separate person, or does one person often cover two of them? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - The central accountability of each role, stated in one line each - What each role owns, its time horizon and how its success is judged - Where each role's decision rights end and how it influences beyond them - Where the roles overlap or conflict, including the product owner accountability and small teams that merge roles - A concrete example of a product manager working with the other two ### Follow-up Questions - Your team has neither a project manager nor a scrum master. Which of their duties would you take on, and which would you push back on? - The scrum master says a feature you consider urgent cannot enter the current sprint. How do you handle it? - When should the product owner and the product manager be different people?