Table of Contents

Product Manager vs UX Designer

There are many roles within a company, including UX Designers and Product Managers. These two roles work together frequently and will collaborate often on various projects and tasks. However, what is the major difference between the Product Manager vs UX Designer? 

Product Manager vs UX Designer: Background

vs you split up the development of a Product, you’ll come up with Product Management and User Experience (UX). Ultimately, product management is comprised of these 2 vital roles: hence the distinction between Product Manager vs UX Designer. The Product Manager will deal with the more business-oriented side of the work, and User Experience (UX) Designer will deal with the customer. They both inhabit their own domain within the company, and who their targets are. 

Research

The UX Designer will typically design and implement the idea of who the target audiences are for the product. They initially conduct research on the users and adapt the product accordingly to that, such as the design of the User Interface, or what the users physically see, such as a web page. A Product Manager will design the full roadmap and layout strategies pertaining to business-sided affairs of Product development. They’ll also be creating roadmaps for each team such as the Technical team, as well as for executives or stakeholders, to signify where the product is and where it is going. 

The Work Process

A UX Designer will have a vastly different work process as compared to the Product Manager. A UX Designer will first plan out and discover who the target audience is, then test the designs and sketch the blueprints out. This leads to wireframing and allowing the UI Designers to prototype the visuals. A UX Designer primarily researches, then helps to design and build the prototype, however, UI designers create entirely what the audience sees.

The Product Manager will work on discovering the key fundamentals of a product, while taking into consideration the multiple different factors, such as the risk, the costs, the time required, and who the audience is. They’ll then work on creating solutions for issues, and creating roadmaps and strategies, leading up towards the production of the product, and finally, the delivery of the product to the public. They conduct extensive research on what the business and market need and create the plans leading up to the final release.

Product Manager vs UX Designer 

Looking to transition in product management? Schedule a free career coaching session with our in-house team of PM recruiter experts. While you wait for your scheduled time, why not go ahead and join our Product Manager Job Hunters community group? We’d love to hear from you.