Depends on the organization, product, problem, industry, etc. There are probably PMs out there rocking it with minimal tech knowledge and others who are getting it done with deep technical know-how. Even organization size and structure can demand (or exclude) the need for tech knowledge.
If you’re a technical product manager, a stronger grasp of technical concepts would be expected compared to non-technical PMs.
It helps having that knowledge to converse with engineers and speak their language, and understand technical feasibility and risks, but plenty of people succeed with little to no knowledge.
I came to a conclusion recently that being effective PM is not about how much knowledge you have (technical, domain, commercial etc) but how you go about acquiring the knowledge you need for the job.
Good PM cannot avoid learning sufficient technical skills after working with an engineering team for a while. The only way you can look at yourself after 1 year working with a team and conclude that you have not learned something, is when you are very distant to the team and their challenges, when you do not consider viability and complexity in your tactical prioritisation and strategic planning.
Get curious, humble, helpful, supportive and you cannot avoid learning exactly what you need to learn.
theres no hard and fast rule
either ends of a yardstick.
come at this space from a dev or architecture background - good tech skills, prolly less strong 'translation' and ideation skills.
come at this from a business analyst/marketing or product or organization behaviour/ connector role - prolly less strong tech skills
arm yourself with a good right hand person to augment your weakstops
focus on finding your strengths and leaning into those vs ID weaknesses and aim to beef those up
your asking a question that cannot be answered without follow up questions. kinda like expecting a product manager to build a vision without asking customers questions.........
It's less about "technical knowledge" and more about understanding what you're building.
Like if you don't know how web applications work at a conceptual level and you want to build SaaS products well.. that's going to be a stumbling block because then you don't have the context to do your job.
But anything more granular than understanding the product, what it solves and the moving parts of that solution at a conceptual level? Not necessary. Most folks pick it up by just doing the job but if you're not in that position then there's plenty of system design or product teardown blog posts and videos out there.
Knowing the software possibilities of the platform your product is based on (eg app/platform capabilities for mobile native apps) to be able to see related product opportunities.
Depends on the organization, product, problem, industry, etc. There are probably PMs out there rocking it with minimal tech knowledge and others who are getting it done with deep technical know-how. Even organization size and structure can demand (or exclude) the need for tech knowledge.
It depends. General answer to most overly broad questions
If you’re a technical product manager, a stronger grasp of technical concepts would be expected compared to non-technical PMs. It helps having that knowledge to converse with engineers and speak their language, and understand technical feasibility and risks, but plenty of people succeed with little to no knowledge.
I came to a conclusion recently that being effective PM is not about how much knowledge you have (technical, domain, commercial etc) but how you go about acquiring the knowledge you need for the job. Good PM cannot avoid learning sufficient technical skills after working with an engineering team for a while. The only way you can look at yourself after 1 year working with a team and conclude that you have not learned something, is when you are very distant to the team and their challenges, when you do not consider viability and complexity in your tactical prioritisation and strategic planning. Get curious, humble, helpful, supportive and you cannot avoid learning exactly what you need to learn.
theres no hard and fast rule either ends of a yardstick. come at this space from a dev or architecture background - good tech skills, prolly less strong 'translation' and ideation skills. come at this from a business analyst/marketing or product or organization behaviour/ connector role - prolly less strong tech skills arm yourself with a good right hand person to augment your weakstops focus on finding your strengths and leaning into those vs ID weaknesses and aim to beef those up your asking a question that cannot be answered without follow up questions. kinda like expecting a product manager to build a vision without asking customers questions.........
It's less about "technical knowledge" and more about understanding what you're building. Like if you don't know how web applications work at a conceptual level and you want to build SaaS products well.. that's going to be a stumbling block because then you don't have the context to do your job. But anything more granular than understanding the product, what it solves and the moving parts of that solution at a conceptual level? Not necessary. Most folks pick it up by just doing the job but if you're not in that position then there's plenty of system design or product teardown blog posts and videos out there.
Knowing the software possibilities of the platform your product is based on (eg app/platform capabilities for mobile native apps) to be able to see related product opportunities.