Who You’ll Meet at EXSQ: Engagement Managers, Project Managers & Product Owners

At EXSQ, successful project delivery is a result of dedicated collaboration across several key roles who our clients interact with every day. These are your advocates who uphold your vision with the user experience, design, architecture, development, devops, AI and quality assurance delivery teams. That’s not to say you won’t interact directly with our other team members, but it will be in a concise fashion. To give an example, we’re not going to have a developer trying to manage your project.

Our Product Owners, Project Managers, and Engagement Managers work together to ensure your goals are met with precision, transparency, and seamless execution. 

But wait… what’s the difference between a product owner and a project manager? 

And where does an engagement manager fit within a project?

And do I need all these people for my project?

Let’s break these roles down to help you better understand what you can expect when partnering with us and interacting with each role throughout your project.

Engagement Manager

Engagement Managers (EMs) wear many hats, ensuring all parts of your project come together seamlessly. They focus on high-level guidance, schedule management, and advocating for your business goals.

What to Expect Working with an Engagement Manager at EXSQ

Probably the best way to understand what EMs do is to think of them as wearing the hats of a:

• Product Manager: Our engagement managers possess deep expertise in verticals, tools, competitive evaluations and strategic thinking, providing unique insights to move your brand forward
• Project Manager, when a dedicated project manager isn’t required for a project
• Client Manager: You’re single point of contact for contracts, financials, budgets, leadership status reporting

Your Engagement Manager is your strategic ally, fostering a dynamic partnership built on open communication and unwavering support. Their top priority? Making you look incredible by delivering outstanding project outcomes.

Project Manager

Your Project Manager (PM) ensures every aspect of your complex or large-scale project runs smoothly. 

PMs coordinate tasks, resources, and people—keeping everything on schedule and within budget, while proactively handling any roadblocks along the way.

Working closely with your Engagement Manager (EM) and Product Owner (PO), the PM helps anticipate risks, resolve issues, and ensure a successful project delivery from start to finish.

What to Expect Working with a Project Manager at EXSQ

• From sprint plans to project timelines, your PM sets the foundation for successful delivery.
• They track and address potential hurdles early, minimizing surprises during implementation.

By monitoring progress and mitigating scope creep, the PM keeps your project aligned with its goals.

Product Owner

A Product Owner (PO) is your dedicated advocate—aka the “voice of the client”—who ensures your needs are translated into workable solutions. They bridge client requirements with technical feasibility, guiding the development process toward the best outcomes while refining the backlog, breaking down solutions into manageable tasks, and prioritizing work for successful delivery. 

You’ll find the PO involved in everything from backlog refinement to working with you to prioritize features that drive the highest impact. By understanding both the problem and the solution, POs ensure alignment between your expectations and technical feasibility.

What to Expect Working with a Product Owner at EXSQ

• POs work with you to define epics and user stories, refining them into detailed use cases (we ❣️Behavior Driven Development style – ASK US WHY)
• POs continuously refine and prioritize the project backlog, ensuring that tasks align with your goals. 
• POs validate workflows and ensure data supports the intended design.
• POs document solutions in digestible formats for developers and QA, tracking bugs and clarifying requirements when necessary.
• You’ll see your PO categorizing features into “must-have,” “should-have,” and “nice-to-have,” ensuring that critical elements are delivered on time.

You may hear us talk about the “Technical Product Owner” role too. These individuals possess a data-centric view of what it takes to achieve your goals. They perform tasks such as:

• Decomposing visual designs into their functional, dynamic and static content elements
• Mapping internal and external APIs to meet your application goals, working with you to resolve any gaps
• Define the macro integration approach through user stories (timing, failsafes, access methods) for integrations from the biggest like Salesforce to the smallest niche provider for say multi-calendar scheduling
• Work with our Machine Learning team when building models to transform structured and unstructured data to achieve a functional goal in your application – be it optimized content ingestion or an AI powered search

The Right People For The Right Job

Does every project need all these roles? The short answer is no. Each project is unique in its goals and requirements. These roles are tools in the toolbox, and your Engagement Manager will work closely with you before a project starts to identify which roles are most suitable for your project.

Tying It All Together

Within EXSQ’s dynamic environment, collaboration is the cornerstone of success. Engagement Managers, Project Managers, and Product Owners converge, blending their unique talents to drive impactful results for our clients.

Your Product Owner champions your vision, translating your goals into precise designs and requirements, effectively serving as your advocate. The Technical Product Owner then forges the critical link between business objectives and technical implementation, proactively resolving challenges and guaranteeing feasibility. Your Engagement Manager provides strategic oversight, cultivating a strong partnership and harmonizing cross-functional teams. Finally, your Project Manager ensures seamless execution, diligently managing timelines, budgets, and mitigating risks.

Every day, this team balances your expectations, the team’s capabilities, and project constraints, working closely to deliver cohesive, successful results. 

With EXSQ, you can rely on consistent alignment, dependable delivery, and solutions crafted in true partnership to meet your specific needs.