There’s an old post out in the wild on someone’s untended blog that compares Producers and their mindset to Project Managers and their perceived mindset:
http://producerland.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/producer-vs-project-manager/
I decided for fun to add in a comparison to Scrum Master, below. And, to make matters worse to be completely in fashion, I translated from the “versus” to the improv-influenced “and,” as in “yes, and.” Don’t shudder; make suggestions below.
Here’s Jon:
I’m always fascinated by the subtle differences between a Producer and a Project Manager. To help distinguish the two, I’ve put together a quick cheat sheet:
Producer: Wanted to be a filmmaker but gave up on that idea after working in film for 6 months getting coffee for a bunch of thankless bastards at 4am, on a lobster boat, getting paid nothing.
Project Manager: Wanted to be a Project Manager after college.
Scrum Master: Woke up from the delusion of thinking they could or should tell everyone else what to do and figured out it is way more fun to help them do it.
Producer: Makes a project schedule when the project starts. Never looks at it again.
Project Manager: Updates the project schedule every day.
Scrum Master: Helps the team understand what their goal post is (the next “down”).
Producer: Spends the whole day walking and talking.
Project Manager: Sits in the office perfecting that Gantt chart.
Scrum Master: Helps cut through obstacles the team is facing.
Producer: Secretly enjoys cracking open Photoshop when the designers aren’t looking.
Project Manager: Does not have Photoshop installed.
Scrum Master: Doesn’t have to keep secrets from the team. If the team needs help, will crack open Photoshop and they love that that happens.
Producer: Knows enough code to be dangerous. But seriously, is lost without Dreamweaver.
Project Manager: Does not code. Or design.
Scrum Master: Most likely was a coder, is a coder, or will be a coder.
Producer: Swears every other word.
Project Manager: Uses words like ‘Mmmhhmm’ and ‘Nnnkaaay?’.
Scrum Master: Giggles with team a lot.
Producer: Goes to SXSW to booze it up with former co-workers.
Project Manager: Studies for the PMI exam.
Scrum Master: Goes to SXSW to participate in an accelerator for a product that the team came up with during off-hours.
Producer: Cozies up to team members to get them to do what they’re supposed to do.
Project Manager: Tells people what they need to do. Calls them to tell them they sent them an email. Pisses them off.
Scrum Master: The team actually wants to do what they’re supposed to do–so just needs to find out what’s in the way of individual team member’s work and help remove any blocks from getting the work done.
Producer: 2 days before the project is due, all hell breaks loose. No sleep for 48 hours. Spends the night making edits in the HTML and writing copy they forgot about.
Project Manager: Completes another credit toward the PMP certification.
Scrum Master: Has prioritized the work so everyone is super-happy throughout the project as they have seen work early on and improvements throughout.
Producer: Comes in at 10:00 AM. Pissed off cause they drank too much last night.
Project Manager: Schedules an 8:30 AM daily meeting.
Scrum Master: At stand-up every day and is fined by the team if late.
Producer: Mac
Project Manager: PC
Scrum Master: Post-it Notes and Sharpies
Work Different 