So I constantly hear that a PM is higher than a PO. I hear the typical “PO is just a role on a scrum team. It’s not a job title. I see the PM and PO the same person. Two sides of the same coin. To have a successful product you need someone to execute it and someone who finds out what we need to execute (roadmap/vision, etc). It seems as though everyone wants their ego boosted by saying they don’t write user stories anymore and that they have a PO for that. I’ve worked with PMs who couldn’t even write a user story or didn’t know how to unblock devs when needed. I’ve heard a PM is supposed to do everything a PO does plus roadmap, discovery, and vision. In reality most companies have complex products with many teams which is too much for a single PM. Most places I’ve researched have both roles. The PM may set the roadmap, talk to customers but they expect POs to contribute to the roadmap as well. POs know the ins and outs of the product since they work with the dev teams and can help prioritize and create the roadmap. The only difference between the PM and PO I see is where one focuses their time. PO salaries are roughy equal at most place and sometimes higher than PM salaries.

I will say I only consider my analogy of PM/PO being two sides of the same coin being true if the PO is truly assessing the roadmap with the PM to add value to it. If the PO is able to help create the roadmap then i would argue one isn’t over the other. If the PO is just a backlog administrator being told to execute and doesn’t have an input on the roadmap then I would argue PM > PO in that case. I would go as far to say a PO is essentially a BA in this scenario.

I’m looking to forward hearing everyone’s thoughts.