program manager (joel ++) vs product owner (scrum)

Having a good program manager is one of the secret formulas to making really great software.
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a program manager would ... Design UIs ... Write functional specs ... Coordinate teams ... Serve as the customer advocate
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One of the best things a program manager can add to the software design process is a second opinion as to how things should be designed
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A good program manager will come with her own ideas for how the UI should work, which might be better, or worse, than the developer’s idea. And then there’s a long debate.
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To make sure that the debate happens respectfully and on a rational basis of facts, it’s absolutely critical that the program managers and developers be peers. If developers report to the program manager, at some point during the debate the program manager is going to get sick of the whole thing and just say, “OK, enough talking, now we do it my way.” When they’re peers, this can never happen.  It’s a little bit like courts of law: we don’t allow a lawyer for one side to be the judge, and we work on the theory that the truth is most likely to be uncovered through a process of debate between equals. The debate can only be a fair one if neither side has an unfair advantage.

This is an important point ....  Now pay attention. Programmers can’t report to program managers which means, among other things, that the development lead, or the CTO, or the CEO, can’t be the person who writes the specs.

The number one mistake most companies make is having the manager of the programmers writing the specs and designing the product. This is a mistake because the design does not get a fair trial, and is not born out of conflict and debate, so it’s not as good as it could be.I learned this the hard way.

How to be a program manager - Joel on Software


on another note, product manager seems closely related to product owner in scrum...

Product Owner

The Product Owner represents the voice of the customer. They ensure that the Scrum Team works with the right things from a business perspective. The Product Owner writes user stories, prioritizes them, then places them in the product backlog.

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The product backlog is property of the Product Owner. Business value is set by the Product Owner. Development effort is set by the Team.
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The sprint backlog is property of the Team. Estimations are set by the Team.

Scrum (wikipedia)


a couple of links on the comparison between product manager and product owner... and a critic of the product manager role...

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