The Real Answer to ‘How Technical Should a PM Be?’ Part 1

A practical guide to finding your place on the technical spectrum — and why it matters more than you think.

The question of how technical a product manager should be is a recurring and often debated topic.

The first time I walked into an architecture review, I nodded along like I understood. I didn’t.

When the engineers started throwing around terms like “asynchronous jobs,” “rate limits,” and “replication lag,” I realized I was completely lost.

That moment taught me that:

I didn’t need to be an engineer. But I did need to speak their language.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, as the ideal level of technical expertise can vary depending on the company, the product, and the specific role. However, a general understanding of the technical landscape is undeniably beneficial.

In this first part, we’ll break down:

• Why the question “Should PMs be technical?” is missing the point

• What the spectrum of technical skillset really looks like

• The key technical skills every PM should consider learning — without becoming an engineer

The Spectrum of Technical Acumen

The required level of technical expertise for a PM can be viewed as a spectrum.

On one end, you have PMs who have a deep understanding of the underlying technologies, perhaps even with a background in software engineering. They can engage in detailed technical discussions, understand architectural decisions, and even contribute to code reviews.

On the other end, those who focus primarily on the business and user experience aspects of the product, relying on their engineering team to handle the technical details.

Most PMs fall somewhere in between, equipped with a working knowledge of the technologies involved but not necessarily the ability to code or design complex systems themselves. This "sweet spot" allows them to communicate effectively with engineers, make informed decisions about technical trade-offs, and understand the feasibility and implications of different product features.

Why Technical Knowledge Matters

While it's not always necessary for a PM to be a coding expert, a solid understanding of technical concepts can significantly enhance their effectiveness. Here's why:

• Improved Communication: A PM with technical knowledge can communicate more effectively with the engineering team. They can understand the technical challenges involved in building a product, ask informed questions, and participate in technical discussions without getting lost in jargon. This fosters mutual respect and collaboration, leading to better outcomes.

• Better Decision-Making: Technical knowledge empowers PMs to make more informed decisions about product features and trade-offs. They can assess the feasibility of different options, understand the potential impact on performance and scalability, and weigh the costs and benefits of various technical approaches.

• Enhanced Credibility: When a PM demonstrates a genuine interest in and understanding of the technical aspects of the product, it enhances their credibility with the engineering team. Engineers are more likely to trust and respect a PM who "gets" what they do, leading to a more collaborative and productive working relationship.

• Proactive Problem-Solving: A technically savvy PM can often anticipate potential problems and proactively address them before they escalate. They can identify technical risks, understand the implications of bugs and performance issues, and work with the engineering team to find solutions.

• Innovation and Creativity: Technical knowledge can spark innovation and creativity. By understanding the capabilities and limitations of different technologies, PMs can identify new opportunities to leverage technology to solve user problems and create unique product experiences.

Striking the Right Balance

While technical knowledge is valuable, it's important for PMs to strike the right balance. Overemphasizing technical expertise can lead to:

• Micromanagement: A PM who gets too involved in the technical details can risk micromanaging the engineering team, stifling their creativity and autonomy.

• Loss of Focus: Spending too much time on technical issues can distract a PM from their core responsibilities, such as understanding user needs, defining product strategy, and prioritizing features.

• Communication Barriers: Overly technical PMs may struggle to communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders, such as marketing, sales, and customer support.

The key is to have enough technical knowledge to be effective without becoming a bottleneck or losing sight of the bigger picture.

What specific technical skills are most valuable for PMs?

Okay, so when we're talking about technical skills, it's not about turning PMs into engineers, but rather equipping them with the knowledge to be effective collaborators and decision-makers. Here's a breakdown of specific skills that I believe are most valuable:

• Data Analysis & SQL: Being able to dig into data is crucial. PMs should be fluent in reading and using dashboards to understand impact and changes. They should be able to isolate variables to diagnose issues or opportunities. Strong SQL skills, including sub-queries, temporary tables, and complex joins, are incredibly useful for pulling and manipulating data directly.

• Experimentation & A/B Testing: Understanding how to design, run, and interpret experiments is essential for data-driven product development. PMs should be familiar with A/B testing methodologies and be able to synthesize research quickly for insights. They should also be able to support and help debug other's tests.

• API Knowledge: Understanding APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) is increasingly important. PMs should grasp how APIs work, how they enable different systems to communicate, and how they can be used to build new features and integrations.

• Basic Understanding of System Architecture: PMs don't need to be system architects, but they should have a general understanding of how systems are built and how different components interact. This helps them make informed decisions about scalability, performance, and maintainability.

• Cloud Computing Concepts: With the prevalence of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP, PMs should understand basic cloud computing concepts, such as virtual machines, storage, and networking.

• User Science and Empathy: Be familiar with and choose user science tools. They should be able to use survey tools successfully without bias, lead in-person interviews without bias, and use remote usability testing without bias.

• Data Visualization: Being able to present data in a clear and compelling way is crucial for communicating insights and influencing decisions. PMs should be proficient in using data visualization tools to create charts, graphs, and dashboards.

• AI Awareness: PMs need to understand the capabilities and limitations of AI technologies. This includes understanding concepts like machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.

Specific examples

Alright, let's dive into some specific examples of technical skills that a PM can leverage, and how they might apply them in real-world scenarios:

1. SQL (Structured Query Language)

• Specific Skill: Writing SQL queries to extract and analyze data from a database. This includes using SELECT, JOIN, WHERE, GROUP BY, and aggregate functions.

• Example Scenario: Imagine you're a PM for an e-commerce platform, and you notice a drop in conversion rates for a specific product category. Using SQL, you could query the database to identify:

  • Which specific products in that category are experiencing the biggest drop in conversion.

  • What are the common attributes of users who are not converting (e.g., demographics, location, browsing history).

  • Whether there are any error messages or performance issues associated with those product pages.

  • This data can then inform your hypotheses and guide further investigation.

2. A/B Testing & Statistical Analysis

• Specific Skill: Designing A/B tests, calculating statistical significance, and interpreting results.

• Example Scenario: You're a PM for a subscription service, and you want to test a new onboarding flow. You design an A/B test where 50% of new users see the existing flow (control), and 50% see the new flow (treatment). You need to:

  • Define the key metrics you'll track (e.g., activation rate, time to first purchase, churn rate).

  • Ensure the test is running correctly and that users are being randomly assigned to each group.

  • After a sufficient period, analyze the data to determine if the new flow significantly improves the key metrics.

  • Understand concepts like p-value, confidence intervals, and statistical power to make informed decisions about whether to roll out the new flow to all users.

3. API Understanding

• Specific Skill: Understanding how APIs work, how to read API documentation, and how to use tools like Postman to test API endpoints.

• Example Scenario: You're a PM for a travel booking platform, and you want to integrate with a new flight data provider. You would need to:

  • Review the provider's API documentation to understand how to retrieve flight schedules, pricing, and availability.

  • Use Postman to send requests to the API and verify that the data is being returned correctly.

  • Work with your engineering team to design the integration and handle any errors or edge cases.

4. Cloud Computing Basics

• Specific Skill: Understanding core cloud concepts like virtual machines, containers, storage, and networking.

• Example Scenario: You're a PM for a SaaS application, and your user base is growing rapidly. You need to work with your engineering team to scale your infrastructure. Understanding cloud concepts will allow you to:

  • Discuss the pros and cons of different scaling strategies (e.g., vertical vs. horizontal scaling).

  • Evaluate different cloud services for storage, databases, and compute.

  • Understand the cost implications of different infrastructure choices.

5. Data Visualization

• Specific Skill: Creating clear and informative charts, graphs, and dashboards using tools like Tableau, Google Data Studio, or similar.

• Example Scenario: You're a PM for a mobile app, and you want to track user engagement. You could create a dashboard that shows:

  • Daily/monthly active users (DAU/MAU).

  • Retention rates.

  • The most popular features.

  • User demographics.

  • This dashboard would allow you to quickly identify trends, spot potential problems, and track the impact of product changes.

6. Basic Scripting (e.g., Python)

• Specific Skill: Writing simple scripts to automate tasks, process data, or perform ad-hoc analysis.

• Example Scenario: You need to analyze a large CSV file containing user feedback. Instead of manually sifting through the data, you could write a Python script to:

  • Clean and format the data.

  • Identify common keywords and themes.

  • Generate summary statistics.

7. User Empathy and User Science

• Specific Skill: Using survey tools successfully without bias

• Example Scenario: You are trying to determine if users will respond positively to a new feature.

  • You can use survey tools to gather user feedback.

  • You can lead in-person interviews to gather qualitative data.

  • You can use remote usability testing to see how users interact with the feature.

These are just a few examples, and the specific skills that are most valuable will depend on the context of your role and the type of product you're working on. The key is to focus on developing the skills that will help you communicate effectively with your engineering team, make data-driven decisions, and ultimately build better products.

Up Next: Your Technical Growth Roadmap

In Part 2, we’ll cover:

• How to assess where you are on the tech spectrum

• A clear framework to define proficiency levels for key skills

• Real-world tasks to benchmark and grow your capabilities as a PM