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The Many Faces of Product Management: A Business Analyst’s Journey

· 3 min read
Andy Jackson
Andy Jackson
ajackson-x

The journey into Product Management (PM) is often an incidental one. It’s rare to see someone start their career in the role, leading to the diverse and unique backgrounds in the PM talent pool. You’ll find terms like “technical,” “growth,” and “generalist” prefixed to PM roles, but I don’t think this goes far enough to fully capture the breadth of variety in how PMs approach their work. The role demands countless decisions across many areas of a business, and no two PMs do it the same way.

My own journey into Product Management came after five years as a Business Analyst (BA). There’s certainly a lot of overlap between the two roles, but transitioning wasn’t without its challenges! So for any BAs out there thinking of the switch, here’s what I’ve learned about the similarities and differences between the two.

Similarities Between BA and PM Roles:​

  • Focus on the problem, not the solution: Requirements gathering is a core BA skill. While PMs are expected to own the solution more, getting clients and customers to open up about their behaviors and mindset is key for both roles.

  • Collaboration with engineering teams: Being embedded in the engineering team is crucial for delivering great products. Both roles require you to learn the language of engineers and keep pace with them.

Differences Between BA and PM Roles:​

  • Depth vs. breadth: BAs have the luxury of diving deep into a problem space, dedicating time to research and form well-formed opinions. PMs, on the other hand, are often time-poor and must make decisions with a shallower understanding - something that took me a while to get comfortable with and still seek mentorship on.

  • Jack of all trades: PMs need to keep a lot of plates spinning, across a number of different areas. In this space it’s invaluable to have a can-do mindset and the ability to contribute in areas you lack expertise. This generalist mindset contrasts with the BA’s specialized, detail-oriented investigative approach.

  • Desire to own the future: I’ve saved the most important lesson for last. There’s a certain comfort in turning up to work and being told exactly what to focus on. No second-guessing, no ambiguity - just a clear list of tasks to tackle. But stepping into Product Management is like stepping into the unknown, here high agency and decisiveness are non-negotiable. They’re essential for shipping great products and navigating tough decisions. For me, this was the muscle that needed the most work. It’s not easy, but like any skill, it grows with practice, feedback, and experience.

Final Thoughts​

Sanchan Saxena said it well on Lenny’s Podcast: great Product Management is all about “knowing what to do and when.” It’s a skill that’s hard to define and even harder to master, but regardless of how you get into PM, nothing replaces good old-fashioned experience.

For me, the journey from Business Analyst to Product Manager has been a fulfilling one, so anyone contemplating a move - what are you waiting for?