5 Differences technical product manager from business-oriented PM
Many probably faced with different options and interpretations of the role and functionality of the product manager. In large companies and startups today, you can find strategically important employees at various levels associated with product management, which are becoming more and more in demand.
The role of a product manager in a company depends on the internal hierarchy and scope of activity. Somewhere a single manager is enough, and in some large corporations there may be a whole department in which there is a Product VP, product director, product owner, product manager, junior PM or other positions. In tech-oriented companies and software development, the position of technical product manager is becoming increasingly common. How does it differ from other grocery roles?
A technical product manager is, first of all, a living person, not a role. This means that, ideally, such a position should be held by a manager with a technical mindset or appropriate background. Special education is desirable, but often not necessary.
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This does not mean at all that technical PM must fulfill technical tasks and be always “on the same wavelength” with the developers. There are no codes in his work. The product manager does not develop the product itself, but manages the product at its different stages of development and coordinates work with software developers to the same extent as with marketers, designers, and sales managers. Optimally, when the technical product manager focuses on all aspects of product management, rather than development issues.
However, technical knowledge is not exactly redundant. Some technical product managers need to understand and have a good understanding of the technical capabilities of not only the product, but also the entire company in order to understand how to develop a quality product strategy .
When requesting a technical product manager on LinkedIn, you can see that most of the managers found have a technical education or specialized courses.
By the way, the number of proposed technical managers also indicates the great popularity of this position in companies.
Before describing the differences, let's look at the common points that combine the product manager and the technical product manager: Both managers are responsible for the following:
Now we define the key differences.
Like any manager today, Technical PM needs certain online services and tools that help in their work.
One of the main tools in the “clip” of a product manager is considered to be a roadmap or product roadmap. This is a strategic document in which they can plan product goals, capture ideas, short-term and long-term initiatives.
One of the first large companies to use the roadmap development plan was Motorola in the 1970s. Since then, more and more companies have begun to turn to this handy visualization tool.
A technological (sometimes technical) roadmap or technology roadmap is sometimes called an IT roadmap. This roadmap provides key information that helps IT professionals make better decisions about product technologies. The feature of technical roadmap is that it is designed for developers.
You can even keep a simple roadmap using MS Excel. However, complex IT projects and strategies require a careful approach and the use of special services with convenient functionality, such as Hygger, Aha, Asana, Trello, and others. The roadmap helps the development teams and product manager determine which technologies to apply and when also visualizes the schedule for introducing new features.
Using technology roadmap is also a way to organize team work. In software development companies, the key goal of the roadmaps is to coordinate all engineering, IT, marketing, and other issues by developing a common action plan using new solutions.
Technological roadmaps can vary in goals, strategies and team members:
developers roadmaps, internal IT roadmaps, architecture roadmap, software roadmap, hardware procurement roadmap, and others.
Most often, technology roadmap includes:
The opportunity to share it is very important for any roadmap. This feature is offered by the Hygger.io product management platform .
Today you can meet companies that are actively working business-oriented product manager and technical product manager. But most companies still require one product manager.
Another important point is that the names do not always accurately reflect what people do. Perhaps it is you who have all the prerequisites in order to become a technical product manager. In any case, regardless of the names and roles, product managers must have all the professional skills necessary to perform all stages of product management and be able to competently use the technological roadmap.
The role of a product manager in a company depends on the internal hierarchy and scope of activity. Somewhere a single manager is enough, and in some large corporations there may be a whole department in which there is a Product VP, product director, product owner, product manager, junior PM or other positions. In tech-oriented companies and software development, the position of technical product manager is becoming increasingly common. How does it differ from other grocery roles?
Technical Product Manager
A technical product manager is, first of all, a living person, not a role. This means that, ideally, such a position should be held by a manager with a technical mindset or appropriate background. Special education is desirable, but often not necessary.
')
This does not mean at all that technical PM must fulfill technical tasks and be always “on the same wavelength” with the developers. There are no codes in his work. The product manager does not develop the product itself, but manages the product at its different stages of development and coordinates work with software developers to the same extent as with marketers, designers, and sales managers. Optimally, when the technical product manager focuses on all aspects of product management, rather than development issues.
However, technical knowledge is not exactly redundant. Some technical product managers need to understand and have a good understanding of the technical capabilities of not only the product, but also the entire company in order to understand how to develop a quality product strategy .
When requesting a technical product manager on LinkedIn, you can see that most of the managers found have a technical education or specialized courses.
By the way, the number of proposed technical managers also indicates the great popularity of this position in companies.
How is technical PM different from a business-oriented product manager?
Before describing the differences, let's look at the common points that combine the product manager and the technical product manager: Both managers are responsible for the following:
- Develop a global strategy and define a product vision. Both managers should take care of how to avoid mistakes when defining a strategy at the very early planning stage.
- Collection of ideas. Both PMs are responsible for generating and promoting the most useful and relevant ideas and initiatives.
- Manage your development plan or roadmap. This planning and prioritization of what, how and when the product team will implement. Technical product managers work with technology roadmaps that have some unique features, which are discussed below.
- Definition of functions. Both managers work with user Story and product requirements to plan functionality in the future.
- Release Issues. Product managers and technical PM work closely with feature-rich teams to ensure complete customer satisfaction and a successful release.
Now we define the key differences.
5 technical PM from business-oriented differences
- A “general profile” product manager is customer-oriented and participates in the definition of the overall product strategy. The technical manager, to a greater extent, focuses on the possibilities and ways of functioning of the product or service, which he / she does.
- Product managers usually collaborate closely with different departments and technical and non-technical team members. They work with marketers, sales managers, customer support, financiers, project managers, and collaborate with external partners. Technical PM is more often in communication with internal technical teams, including developers, engineers and testers.
- Conducting professional research, the product manager examines the range of competitors in terms of strategic business and bringing the product / service to market, and the technical product manager thinks more about new development trends and technologies, evaluating competitors in terms of their technical capabilities.
- Most often, the education of a product manager is related to business disciplines, while the technical manager of a product is more logical to have a degree in engineering, computer science and other technical disciplines. His skills are useful in optimizing priorities and planning. If there is a clear idea of ​​how the product is developed, then managers can assess the risks of certain functions. Close communication with developers helps to understand the implications of certain product decisions and reach tradeoffs.
- Technical PM is well versed in using Agile or another methodology they use. Many technical PMs come to product management from development and naturally know what the difference is between Scrum or Kanban , however, it’s not worthwhile to delve into the complexity and waste time on their key managerial responsibilities.
Like any manager today, Technical PM needs certain online services and tools that help in their work.
Tools and services for technical PM
One of the main tools in the “clip” of a product manager is considered to be a roadmap or product roadmap. This is a strategic document in which they can plan product goals, capture ideas, short-term and long-term initiatives.
One of the first large companies to use the roadmap development plan was Motorola in the 1970s. Since then, more and more companies have begun to turn to this handy visualization tool.
What are the features of the technological roadmap and what is it for?
A technological (sometimes technical) roadmap or technology roadmap is sometimes called an IT roadmap. This roadmap provides key information that helps IT professionals make better decisions about product technologies. The feature of technical roadmap is that it is designed for developers.
You can even keep a simple roadmap using MS Excel. However, complex IT projects and strategies require a careful approach and the use of special services with convenient functionality, such as Hygger, Aha, Asana, Trello, and others. The roadmap helps the development teams and product manager determine which technologies to apply and when also visualizes the schedule for introducing new features.
Using technology roadmap is also a way to organize team work. In software development companies, the key goal of the roadmaps is to coordinate all engineering, IT, marketing, and other issues by developing a common action plan using new solutions.
Technological roadmaps can vary in goals, strategies and team members:
developers roadmaps, internal IT roadmaps, architecture roadmap, software roadmap, hardware procurement roadmap, and others.
The two main advantages of technology roadmaps
- allows technical managers to efficiently organize and prioritize all ideas, goals, and requirements in a strategic product plan.
- helps to present the strategic plan and its details to all participants with whom you will need to collaborate throughout the development process.
Technology roadmap components
Most often, technology roadmap includes:
- The goals of the product are the planned achievements that companies want to achieve. They can be short and long term. The objectives of the product are based on its business capabilities.
- New product features to be achieved and implemented through the application of technology.
- Release plan with support for new features and capabilities. Managers usually plan releases for several months.
- Milestones or milestones are key benchmarks that must be reached during the development process. Stakeholders track milestones, and this allows them to see progress in achieving long-term goals.
- Resources identify participants for system implementation and maintenance.
- Risk factors are external and internal barriers that may impede the achievement of goals and stages in accordance with the technological plan.
- A status report helps inform all team members.
The opportunity to share it is very important for any roadmap. This feature is offered by the Hygger.io product management platform .
Today you can meet companies that are actively working business-oriented product manager and technical product manager. But most companies still require one product manager.
Another important point is that the names do not always accurately reflect what people do. Perhaps it is you who have all the prerequisites in order to become a technical product manager. In any case, regardless of the names and roles, product managers must have all the professional skills necessary to perform all stages of product management and be able to competently use the technological roadmap.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/353336/
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