How can we describe them separately according their roles? Actually I am a new student; I don't have proper knowledge about this. Please guide me as a basic student.
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Are they managing a project or a business function? That’s the core of it.– Todd A. Jacobs ♦Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 18:11
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2 Answers
Although there's a broadly accepted definition of what a Project Manager is, I'm afraid there isn't such canonical answer for what a "Functional Manager" is supposed to do. In most of the cases, it'll strongly depend on the environment or context the question comes from.
Potential definitions:
- A person responsible for a given function within a company (Sales manager, marketing manager)
- A person responsible for a given function within a project (Development manager, test manager)
- A person responsible for ensuring functional requirements are properly tracked (a kind of Functional analyst lead)
Another aspects to consider is that usually a function is something constant over time whereas a project is something with a (planned) end date.
answered Feb 11, 2019 at 19:24
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I don't think you would say a Functional Manager is someone responsible "for a given function within a project"... that sounds too close to an Individual Contributor role, which a Functional Manager is not.– gpgpgpCommented Feb 13, 2019 at 6:16
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Again, environment dependant. Above list contain possible different interpretations of the same role. Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 8:05
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And in our projet (100+ people) there's a Dev Manager, a Test manager and a Release manager. All managers in their own area. Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 8:08
PMBOK makes a clear distinction between these roles; just look to that. Project Manager: person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving the project objectives.
Functional Manager: person with management authority over an organizational unit within a functional organization. The manager of any group that actually makes a product or performs a service. Sometimes called a line manager.
Another way to look at it is the Functional Manager always has a "home base" within the company, e.g., Engineering department. The Project Manager doesn't necessarily have a home base because there might not be a Project Management department, per se.
SOURCE: https://medium.com/@pmpeople/the-10-roles-in-project-management-de52e382edd9