This is the third and last article in a three-part series about common misconceptions of the usage of the term “Product Owner” in the broader context of product management.

In the first article, I discussed the misconception of considering “Product Owner” as a step in the Product Management career ladder.

The second misconception was around the belief that Product Managers manage Product Owners.

Now, let’s talk about the 3rd misconception:

Misconception #3: Do product owners focus on execution while product managers focus on strategy?

I frequently encounter this issue when helping my clients evolve their product culture. In this type of structure, the team has a Product Manager who handles the more strategic aspects of the product, such as Product Vision, Competitor Analysis, and Market Analysis. At the same time, a Product Owner is closer to the development team and more focused on execution, managing the backlog, writing user stories, and following up on the team’s deliveries.

In many organizations, the separation of execution and strategy may have originated as a practical response to resource allocation policies or siloed structures. However, this distinction can inadvertently create misaligned objectives, resulting in fragmented customer experiences.

To make this issue even more challenging, it is quite common to have a PM and PO with different objectives in this arrangement. While the PM is focused on business objectives (revenue, number of users, churn, etc.), the PO is focused on delivery and user objectives (number of features delivered, number of bugs, user satisfaction, etc.).

This happens because of the issue I described in the article “Business and product: two sides of the same coin,” i.e.,  company leaders have the understanding that their product has two distinct aspects that need to be treated separately:

• Business aspect: everything related to the business. In a fintech company, the business aspect involves the financial product (bank account, credit score, credit card, etc.). In a streaming company, the business aspect concerns the portfolio of movies and series. In a real estate company, the business discusses inventory, buying price, selling price, and commissions. In a corporate benefits company, the business discussions revolve around benefit availability, usage, and revenue models.
• Digital aspect: everything related to the digital product, including the app, the website, the number of bugs, the speed of delivery, user interfaces, user journeys, and the use of data and AI.

The problem with this approach is that, for the customer, there’s no such distinction. For them, the product is a whole comprised of intertwined business and digital aspects. When we use Netflix or any other streaming service, we consider the entire experience of browsing, searching, selecting, and watching content to be the product. When we use a digital bank, the bank account, the credit card, the investment options, and the app are all part of the product.

For this reason, these two aspects should work closer together. It is possible that the same person can take care of both business and digital aspects. Having a single Product Manager responsible for both business and digital aspects not only simplifies decision-making but also ensures end-to-end accountability. This alignment allows teams to deliver cohesive product experiences that resonate with customers, who perceive the product as a unified whole. For instance, when I led the digital transformation at Lopes, Brazil’s biggest real estate company, some of my Product Managers and Group Product Managers had previously worked on the business aspects of real estate companies. When I was CPO at Conta Azul, a well-known Brazilian ERP for small businesses, some Product Managers were licensed accountants who had previously worked in accounting offices.

In other situations, finding people capable of taking care of business and digital aspects may not be easy, not only because of the complexity of the topics but also because of the amount of work. For instance, imagine the amount of work required to build the inventory of series and movies in a streaming company, deciding on content to license or to produce. Or in a fintech, where decisions about the credit risk will directly impact the company’s bottom line. Or an edtech, where the academic content is crucial for the product’s success. In these situations, I recommend renaming the PO to Product Manager and the PM to a role that I’ve been calling Business Manager (BM) to make it clear that this person takes care of the business aspects of the product.

From PO and PM to either PM or a collaboration between PM and BM (Business Manager)

Note that when we have the separated roles of PM and BM, they must collaborate intensely to build the best product. For this reason, they are both responsible for product vision and strategy, competitor analysis, market analysis, problem discovery, solution discovery, and product delivery. To guarantee and reinforce this collaboration, we need them to have the same set of objectives. In my classes about team structure, I use the image below to illustrate the importance of a team having a common set of objectives. Imagine a rowing team with each person rowing in one direction. The boat will not move or may move erratically. For the boat to get somewhere, everybody needs to row in the same direction, i.e., everyone in that boat must have the same objective. That’s how we make a group of people behave as a team, giving them the same objectives.

Establishing clear, shared objectives is essential for the PM-BM collaboration to succeed. Techniques such as joint OKRs, cross-functional alignment workshops, and recurring strategy syncs can help ensure that both roles move in the same direction.

Rowing team

Conclusion

So there you have it: the 3rd misconception is that POs focus on execution while PMs focus on strategy.

This misconception arises from the complexities of the business aspects of certain types of businesses. Due to this complexity, we may mistakenly think it’s better to separate the responsibilities and objectives related to the business from the digital aspects of the product.

The problem is that the PO=execution/PM=strategy split creates fragmented customer experiences. However, customers see products holistically, not as separate business and digital components.

To solve this, we have two options that depend on the company’s type of business:

• We can either have the PM taking care of both the business and digital aspects of the product or;
• We can have two people: a PM taking care of the digital aspects and a BM (business manager) taking care of the business aspects.

If we decide to have two people, we must be careful when setting objectives. To guarantee that PM and BM work as a team and move in the same direction, we must define a shared set of objectives.

This misconception reveals the importance of aligning roles to deliver unified product experiences. Whether your organization opts for a unified PM role or a PM-BM collaboration, the key is ensuring that objectives are clearly defined and aligned. By addressing these challenges, you can set the stage for a product practice that consistently delivers value to customers and the business alike.

This article concludes the series on the misconceptions of using the term “Product Owner” in the broader context of product management. In case you missed the other two articles, here they are:

• Misconception #1: Is Product Owner Just a Step in the Product Management Career Ladder?
• Misconception #2: Do product managers manage product owners?

Workshops, coaching, and advisory services

I’ve been helping companies and their leaders (CPOs, heads of product, CTOs, CEOs, tech founders, and heads of digital transformation) bridge the gap between business and technology through workshops, coaching, and advisory services on product management and digital transformation.

Digital Product Management Books

Do you work with digital products? Do you want to know more about managing a digital product to increase its chances of success, solve its user’s problems, and achieve the company objectives? Check out my Digital Product Management books, where I share what I learned during my 30+ years of experience in creating and managing digital products:

• Digital transformation and product culture: How to put technology at the center of your company’s strategy
• Leading Product Development: The art and science of managing product teams
• Product Management: How to increase the chances of success of your digital product
• Startup Guide: How startups and established companies can create profitable digital products