Given your background, if the results you’ve demonstrated so far in your career are substantial, I’d suggest applying for project and/or program management roles at companies like Microsoft. Microsoft, Amazon, and many other tech companies do not require PMI certification, and they look for candidates with a business+tech mindset.

Good luck,
Sam

This post was mentioned on Twitter by seanking: Looking into the best way to introduce this new-fangled idea to the company: Product Management http://bit.ly/VF9em...

If you want to be a project manager, you will need to get your PMI certification, this even after you get this degree. You will also need to have held the job title of project manger, so the simplest way to become a project manager and the quickest is to just get hired as one.

If you are going back to school to get a masters degree, you are going to be better off with an MBA.

Thanks,
Priti

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I would like to outline that in our organization, Product Managers are from Product Devision and Project Managers are from Technology Devision.

Product Manager specifies the product in collaboration with Marketing people, designs mockups, and then the Project Manager gets involved. The Project Manager is supposed to run the project through Development, QA and IT phases until the product is launched.

Both PM’s are usually at odds with each other, not only because their “different” goals, but because they represent different devisions.

Once you’ve decided you need more people, the question becomes whether you hire more people who do everything or divide the jobs more finely so people can specialize. Specialization has benefits such as developing greater skill in a more defined set of tasks.

It can also have downsides, though. If taken to extremes, people can sometimes lose sight of the big picture.

But i have something else to share here. In the time of recession, why do you think that company will have money to hire 2 people one for project management and one for product management though different profile but can be handled by one person?

There is a subtle difference in the goals of the two roles, though. The project manager is devoted to the success of the *project* while the product manager is devoted to the success of the *product.* There are times when these goals conflict.

A project manager may, for example, quite reasonably say that to bring the project in on time and on budget some features must be cut, and then ask the product manager to choose which features to cut. The product manager can use their market knowledge to determine priority and make some cuts.

It’s possible, though, following that logic strictly to end up cutting features that will cripple the product in the market. In those cases, the product manager must push back and say that certain features are “minimum to ship.” This may in turn dictate that the schedule must slip or more resource must be hired.

If the organization is working properly, then these issues get ironed out early and amicably but the different goals of the two roles must be acknowledged in order to talk about these things openly.

Having to lead rather than manage makes project and product management easier, not harder. If you try to manage your team, it will be harder. If you keep your team informed, and enabled, it will be easier. If you can make a decision without escallation, it will be easier. If you insist on doing the work yourself, it will be very much harder.

Learn to lead. Lean to get influence. Learn to decide.

Whether you enjoy project management or find it tedious, the fact
is that you should know something about it. Years of experience in
managing projects has shown that well-structured project plans track
development progress very well. Good project management is pivotal.
Most project deliverables and results are only as good as the project
plans themselves. Managing these work activities, deliverables, and
dependencies—and their relationships—has already been codified in a standard body of knowledge (described in the next paragraph). By implication, the product manager must know project management. Understand that the product manager doesn’t always have to do active project management, but may have to play the role as needed. In some companies, there is a Program Management Office staffed by able project managers who are dedicated to teams. In other companies, another
capable person can be assigned from a related business function.”

Visit http://www.pmdeskreference.com to learn more.