Most organizations say they want to move from projects to products, but the difference often feels fuzzy. The simplest way to see it is to compare how each model defines success, ownership, and value. The table below shows how the two approaches behave in practice—not in theory.

Dimension	Project Model	Product Model
Primary goal	Ship features by a date	Achieve measurable business outcomes
Success metric	On-time, on-scope delivery	Impact on KPIs (revenue, churn, growth)
Focus	Output	Outcome
Team structure	Temporary, disband after delivery	Durable, long-lived teams
Ownership	Shared or unclear	Clear, end-to-end accountability
Funding	One-time, upfront	Continuous, based on results
Learning	Limited to one attempt	Continuous iteration and improvement
Decision driver	Stakeholder requests	Data, discovery, and customer insight
Innovation	Rare and risky	Expected and encouraged
Tech debt	Accumulates quickly	Actively managed and reduced
Speed	Slow to start, slow to adapt	Fast execution once in motion
Delivery mindset	“Just ship it”	“Does this move the needle?”
After launch	Team moves on	Team improves and scales
Time optimized for	Time-to-market	Time-to-money

What matters most is not which model sounds better, but which one your organization actually rewards. If teams are praised for hitting dates, they’ll act like a project organization. If they’re held accountable for results, they’ll behave like product teams. Culture follows incentives—and incentives decide whether you get predictability or impact.