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1/ A product manager, a program manager, and a product owner walk into a bar. To their surprise, they find that the bar is empty except for a BURNING GARBAGE CAN near the door. On the wall next to the garbage can is a pristine, bright-red fire extinguisher.
2/ "The first thing we need to do," says the program manager, "Is figure out clarity around our roles and responsibilities. Which of us should put out the fire?"
3/ "Putting out fires in bars does not align with my team's OKRs," says the product manager. "Therefore this work is not strategic, and I cannot prioritize it." Meanwhile, the fire rages on.
4/ "I'm not sure what the scrum manual says about this," offers the product owner, "but this decision is clearly not mine to make. Can we run a quick retro with the team to determine who should put out the fire?" The bar is filling with smoke.
5/ "OK listen," says the program manager, who at this point is coughing and sputtering from all the smoke, "I can call a meeting with relevant stakeholders to reassess our priorities if we believe that putting out the fire is important to our overall strategy."
6/ The other two nod in agreement, and all three walk out of the bar just as it collapses into a pile of flaming rubble. FIN!
7/ If you enjoyed this little parable, you might enjoy this article I just wrote: https://medium.com/on-human-centric-systems/whats-the-difference-between-a-product-manager-a-product-owner-and-a-program-manager-5805152716c9
