Business Analyst vs Product Managers is a common debate. As a Business Analyst you feel like you’re doing PM work, but pivoting from a Business Analyst to a Product Manager is one of the most frustrating transitions. You feel like you have the competencies to become a PM when you read the job descriptions. All you are missing as a business analyst is the Product Management title on the resume. I’ve heard it so many times myself and through colleagues, “you have work experience, but you were never a “Product Manager.” It’s frustrating when you think you have the experience, but the hiring teams reject you for not having “Product Manager” as a title.
Can a business analyst become a product manager?
Yes! For sure! Being a business analyst is one of the closest roles to pivot to being a Product Manager. However, the issue is convincing the hiring teams and the hiring manager. As a business analyst, you already have many of the skills you would expect of a product manager. For example, gathering requirements, project management, execution, driving the testing, and launch. That’s the entire SDLC! As a business analyst, you’re just missing the product manager title.
Let’s take a deep dive into the roles and responsibilities of both Product Management and Business Analysts. Here’s how HBR defines the responsibilities of a Product Manager. PMs and BAs are both responsible for understanding user requirements and building new software. Next, we’ll compare a few of the PM “Core Competencies” and see how it stacks up to what Business analysts do.
Business Analyst Vs. Product Management Skills?
To understand the true difference of a Business Analyst vs a Product manager, well look into the core skills. What do BAs and PMs do day to day, and the work they each produce.
1) Conducting customer interviews
To understand what to build, you need to understand the user and their problems. Product Managers and business analysts need to conduct “customer interviews.” For instance, business analysts will generally focus on internal customers to your company. Product managers are stereotypically focused on external customers. For example, in the case of platform products, the stakeholders are internal. These interviews are used to understand customers, how they currently use the product, their pain points, and ultimately build a solution.
2) Feature prioritization and road map planning
After knowing what to build from interviewing the users, we will now build the product. Not surprisingly, both PMs and BAs will need to prioritize what’s important to the user. The development features are prioritized based on engineering capacity. Product Managers will need to manage the backlog and future vision, whereas a Business analyst typically has a project to complete and may move on to the next initiative afterward.
3) Development, Testing, Analytics, and Launch
Product Managers and Business Analysts will need to control the development of these requirements (User Stories) and make sure that it’s on track. Ultimately the feature is tested and “shipped” to the user. Additionally, both roles should define and track metrics or KPI’s around product behavior and success.
So Really what is the difference between a Business Analyst vs a Product Manager?
Besides the clear title on the resume, we see that both roles do essentially the same thing. Business analysts and product managers need to understand user pain points and launch a technology-based solution to resolve them. However, Product Managers are typically more outward-facing, and Business Analysts are more internally-facing, but not always. A slight nuance that hiring managers cite for product roles is that Product Managers have more autonomy and usually lead the entire initiative. In contrast, the BA takes more direction from the program manager.
Company culture. Product Management is defined differently at different companies. Smaller Silicon Valley companies (tend to use the PM for everything. Comparatively, older and larger companies favor the use of business analysts or Business systems Analysts. This is unfortunate for those who have the BA title but are doing PM work. That title is the difference between getting your resume seen or passed.
Operational Vs Strategic
Business analysts skew more towards the operational side, building internal systems and solutions. Product managers typically are driving core products for the particular company. However, it is more the scope of the product you work, which is different. The day-to-day responsibilities remain the same.
A great Business Analyst who is technical, good with data, and with a connection to customer needs, in my opinion, can be a Product Manager. More importantly, knowing the customers is the best asset that’s key to both roles.
Strategy to pivot from a Business Analyst to a Product Manager
It all starts with getting the Title. The best way to transition from a Business analyst to a Product Manager is to switch within your same company. You can then jump to other PM jobs at other companies easily once you have the PM title.
Applying to jobs outside of your company as a business analyst would be more difficult. Hiring managers often still want that “Product” experience on the resume, whatever that means. We just went through why both roles are similar. I understand at senior levels; there are more nuances that only Product experience can develop. For candidates that are transitioning over from a business analyst, this should not matter.
Apply To The Right Jobs to Get the Product Management Title
As we have seen above, the same job can be posted at different companies with different titles. Leverage your domain experience to find the same role at another company that labels it as a Product Manager. For example, a domain manager at one company can be a Product Manager at another. One way to transition to a PM, is to leverage this discrepancy to get the Product Manager title. Once you have the PM title, you’ll be viewed differently, and from there, you can apply to any Product Management roles and have a great chance at a callback.
Write your Business Analyst Resume like a Product Manager
One strategy to help you transition from a business analyst is simply telling interviewers what they want to hear. Use the PM lingo. Once you understand the terminologies in Product Management you can practice re-phrasing your tasks as a PM. This shift will be the key to branding and selling yourself as an experienced Product Manager. As we said, you’re doing the same functions. Going over your experiences by talking about user stories vs. user requirements will get you the PM street cred.
| BUSINESS ANALYST DESC. | PRODUCT MANAGER DESC. |
|---|---|
| Requirements gathering | Customer interviews and research |
| Identify issues and gaps | Understand user pain points |
| Documentation of func. and tech design | Creating User Stories & writing PRDs |
| Build Dashboards, analytics | Use metrics to drive decisions |
| Project Manage | User story prioritization, backlog grooming |
| Go Live, Roll out, Cutover | Product Launch |
Practice Talking Like a Product Manager
The biggest differentiator of a Business Analyst vs Product manager may be the way you talk and the vocabulary you use. It may be foreign at first to use these Product Management terms. I remember at times, you may feel unsure if you’re using it in the proper context. In addition, you are not lying as long if you have a real story to relate it to. The more you say something, the more you believe it, and that’s where you build confidence. If you go into the interview believing you’re a product manager, the more likely you’ll be treated like one.
Answer Interview Questions Like a Product Manager
Browse our 99 Product Manager Interview Questions, and see which ones apply to your current role. Almost all of them would. You’ll need to confidently and comfortably answer those questions. You have worked with engineers, done BRD’s (talk about them as PRD’s and briefs – no one will know), and led teams.
Let the interviewer be the judge whether you’re a “PM” or not. An integral part of the process is practice, and the more you practice speaking this way, the more natural it will feel and sound. Remember, if you do a PM function, it’s fair game to talk as if you’re a PM. You’re being judged by your title; why not use that against them and have them judge b/c you speak like a PM. Check our article here to see how to prepare for the Product Management Interview and common PM Interview Questions.