A PO (Product Owner) and a traditional PM (Project Manager) have distinct roles and responsibilities. A PO primarily focuses on defining and prioritizing the product backlog, ensuring that the team delivers value to the stakeholders, and maintaining a vision for the product. A PM typically handles broader project management tasks such as timeline, budget, resource allocation, and overall project delivery. Therefore, it is not accurate to state that a PO is essentially the same thing as a traditional PM.