We’ve all heard of Product Managers.

Those super-heros who –

• Defines the why, when, and what of a product that will solve a problem in the market.
• Juggles requirements from Sales, Marketing, Legal, the CEO.
• Gets told by Program Management the release date was actually a month ago.
• Plans for 10 features but gets only 5, with 3 having major quality issues.

Oh, by the way, they are often extroverted, well-connected, charismatic, and graduated from Business School with MBAs.

But Technical Product Managers?

Technical Product Managers are product managers, with a technical background, typically with an Engineering Degree/Masters. (For example – Computer Science, Information Technology, Mechanical) .

Therefore, they work very closely with the Engineering team (software engineers, architects, UI/UX designers, QA) and Operations team to ensure products get released.

In Agile, specifically Scrum, they are called Product Owners.

Why do we need Technical Product Managers?

In some larger organisations, product management is split into two:

• Vertical Product Managers (Business)
• Technical Product Managers (Engineering)

Vertical Product Managers focus on finding product-market-fit, ensuring that Engineering works on solving market problems. They will think about business models, who the competitors are, which market to target, what price to sell, etc, and likely to capture these details in a business model canvas.

The Technical Product Manager works with the Vertical Product Manager to break down product requirements into features, epics and user stories.

They will work with Engineering to build the product, typically following an Agile methodology. For example, if Scrum was chosen, they will participate in the Scrum ceremonies (Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, Backlog Grooming, Review and Retrospective).

So how can I become a Technical Product Manager?

It really depends, based on the stage in your career.

If you are just starting out,

• Get a university education in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or similar.

If you are currently an engineer looking to pivot,

• Ask your boss/team if you could take up ownership of some smaller features. (These includes talking to users, UI designers, and writing user stories, documentation)

But regardless of which stage you are in,

• Take online courses in Product Management and Engineering (Coursera, Linkedin Learning, Udacity, etc)
• Work and gain experience from personal products (Go to Product Hunt for inspiration)
• Consider going to B-school (Unfair advantage for sure

Good Luck!

In summary, a Technical Product Manager role is vastly exciting. You sit right in the thick of the action. You are technical yet strategic. You have both soft and hard skills.

In most product-based companies, the fate of the company lies with you. Let me know how it goes!

A great product manager has the brain of an engineer, the heart of a designer, and the speech of a diplomat.

– Deep Nishar, Vice President of Product at LinkedIn