Business analysts often look for the logical career paths for their role. A lot of Product Managers come from the BA ranks. The biggest things aspiring PMs need to learn are becoming more strategic in their thinking and behaviour.
When it comes to Business Analysts, it is often recognized as a logical career. It is their propensity to analyze every aspect of business that allows them to become indispensable to an organization. And upon close inspection, we have come to the conclusion that most Product Managers come from the Business Analyst background.
To put it simply, most Product Managers used to be Business Analysts before shifting careers. Even though the job descriptions are different, Product Managers and Business Analysts are united by their mutual goal to create the right product for their organization.
Hence, an aspiring Product Manager from this background will find certain similarities, and whole lot of differences. Be it strategic thinking or understanding customer feedback, a Product Manager will have to go beyond the analytical approach.
The shift in careers for a Product Manager has to be purely based on business model and value. It has to be based on their zeal for the customer – to understand and address their needs, how to solve their problems, and providing them with a unique end-user experience. It has to be based on how well you can make your approach more strategic, and how you manage your priorities and time.
This shift is also determined by communication skills and how effectively you can sell your ideas. Well, we can say that “Behind every great product manager is a great business analyst.”
With this blog, we have tried to put more perspective to the entire idea of Business Analyst vs Product Manager. Keep reading to find out more.
A business analyst is a person who analyzes an organization’s processes and systems to assess the business model and its integration with technology. A Business Analyst helps guide businesses in improving their processes, products, services, and software through data analysis. They are primarily responsible for bridging the gap between IT and business with data-driven recommendations.
To become a Business Analyst, the following business skills are imperative:
A Product Manager is a person who is responsible for developing products for an organization. Product managers prepare business strategies for a product, specify its functional requirements, and manage the launch of features.
A Product Manager needs the following skills:
So, now that you understand the basics of who a Business Analyst and a Product Manager is and the skills they require respectively, let us look at what they share in common and what sets them apart.
The significant similarity between these two roles is the focus on requirements. These can be identified as:
Below are two main differences between Product Management and Business Analysis. Product Managers are focused on developing Products; Business Analysts are focused on developing capabilities for the business.
For Product Managers, the ultimate goal is the product. While it’s critical for the Product Manager to understand why and how people use the product, they generally do not define how people use it. Business Analysts, on the other hand, are responsible for determining the requirements for a business capability.
Product Managers are responsible for the product roadmap. Business Analysts are not. The product roadmap is one of the core responsibilities of the Product Manager. This means the Product Manager has to answer the question: what’s next? What’s on the horizon? What direction are we taking this product?
The Business Analyst is working within a project and taking the direction and scope as given (or possibly making scope and recommendations).