Product Management vs. Portfolio Management: What’s the Difference?

The main difference between Product Management and Portfolio Management is that Product Management is focused on developing and managing individual products, while Portfolio Management is focused on managing a collection of products or services.

Before we move to more differences, let’s first understand Product Management and Portfolio Management:

  • Product Management: Product Management involves managing the development, launch, and ongoing performance of a single product or service. This includes everything from defining the product roadmap to working with cross-functional teams to ensure successful delivery.
  • Portfolio Management: Portfolio Management is focused on managing a collection of products or services as a group, with the aim of achieving overall strategic goals.

Now, let’s get to Product Management vs Portfolio Management:

Major differences between Product Management and Portfolio Management

Product Management Portfolio Management
Product Management focuses on a single product or service. Portfolio Management is concerned with a collection of products or services.
Product Management is responsible for the entire product lifecycle. Portfolio Management is focused on the strategic goals of the product portfolio.
Product Managers work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver the product. Portfolio Managers work with stakeholders to ensure alignment with business objectives.
Product Management is focused on delivering a product that meets the needs of a specific market. Portfolio Management is concerned with balancing the overall mix of products or services.
Product Management is responsible for the success of a single product. Portfolio Management is responsible for the overall success of the product portfolio.

So, these are the main differences between the entities.

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