As a SaaS professional, you’ve probably asked yourself, “What’s tech product management?” and wondered how it’s different from traditional product management.

This guide takes a deep dive into the world of technical product management, showing you how to become one of these in-demand professionals.

We covered everything you need to know, from technical skills and responsibilities to a step-by-step roadmap for getting started.

What is product management in tech?

Technical product management is a career where professionals with an engineering background oversee the entire lifecycle of a product, from initial concept to final release.

These individuals leverage their technical expertise to bridge the gap between engineering and business teams, ensuring that product development aligns with market needs and technical feasibility.

Traditional product manager vs technical product manager

The distinction between a “technical” PM and a regular PM often depends on the company, and the titles can be somewhat interchangeable. Many regular product managers have technical backgrounds, while some technical PMs may not have deep technical expertise.

At a high level, regular product managers focus on business strategy, determining what the product should do and which customer needs it addresses.

In contrast, technical product managers concentrate more on how the product is implemented and what technology is necessary to meet business requirements. They may also engage more in sales engineering and customer support than their regular counterparts.

The roles start to overlap in areas such as prioritization, creating user stories, road mapping, and conducting customer research. Both types of product managers contribute significantly and should ideally collaborate rather than just divide responsibilities.

Sometimes, the roles of a technical product manager and a regular product manager are nearly identical, but they diverge based on the products or product aspects they manage.

For example, a technical product manager might be in charge of highly technical products like APIs, machine learning tools, or developer platforms, which are designed for a technical audience. On the other hand, a regular product manager would typically focus on customer-facing experiences.

Duties in technical product management

While the specific job description can vary depending on the organization and product, here are some core responsibilities that remain consistent across most companies:

Conduct user and market research

The first step technical product managers take when working on new products or features is conducting proper research to understand user needs and market trends.

They gather data through surveys, interviews, and focus groups to identify user pain points and ways the company can address them.

This research helps define the problem space and validate potential solutions.

Develop the product vision and strategy

Armed with research insights, the technical product manager crafts a compelling product vision. This vision outlines the long-term goals and impact the product aims to achieve.

They then develop a product strategy that clearly shows the steps and priorities to realize this vision.

This includes defining target audiences, identifying key features and functionalities, and aligning the product with broader business objectives.

Design the product roadmap

Next, technical product managers collaborate with engineering teams to break the product vision into smaller, manageable features and milestones.

They prioritize features based on potential impact, considering technical constraints and dependencies.

The roadmap serves as a guiding document for the development process, ensuring everyone is aligned on the timeline and priorities.

Assess and address technical risks

Technical product managers are keenly aware of the potential pitfalls that can arise during product development.

Leveraging their technical expertise, they proactively identify and assess these risks, which might range from technological limitations to potential security vulnerabilities.

TPMs then collaborate with the development team to devise mitigation strategies and contingency plans to address these risks.

Collaborate with the product owner and the engineering team

A technical product manager acts as a bridge between technical and non-technical teams.

They translate the product vision and strategy the product team sets into actionable technical requirements that the development team can understand and execute.

In addition, they facilitate communication and collaboration between these teams, clarifying requirements, resolving conflicts, and ensuring everyone is working towards the same objectives.

Iterate on the product’s technical aspects

TPMs collaborate with engineering teams to introduce new technologies, tools, and best practices for improving a product’s performance, security, scalability, and usability.

Once the changes are implemented, they monitor and analyze their performance and use these insights to identify areas for further technical improvements or optimizations.

Through iterative testing and continuous improvement, they ensure the product architecture and design remain robust, technical debt-free, and benefit from the latest technological advancements.

As a result, the product keeps meeting the market and user demands while maintaining its competitive advantage.

Essential skills for technical product managers

Technical PMs require a unique blend of technical and soft skills to excel. These skills include:

• Knowledge of Agile methodologies: Understanding Agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban, helps TPMs manage product development processes efficiently and adapt to changes quickly.
• Software development principles: Familiarity with development processes empowers TPMs to communicate effectively with engineers, understand technical limitations, and make informed decisions about product features.
• Data analysis: Data-driven decision-making is fundamental in modern product management. Proficiency in data analysis enables TPMs to gather and interpret metrics, conduct A/B testing, and make evidence-based decisions.
• Leadership: TPMs must inspire and motivate cross-functional teams, set clear goals, and foster a collaborative environment to ensure everyone is working towards the same product vision.
• Communication: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are crucial for collaborating with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, marketing, sales, and support.

How to become a tech product manager?

While a strong skill set is crucial, becoming a successful technical product manager involves a journey of continuous learning and development. Here’s a roadmap to guide you on this path:

1. Solid educational foundation: Obtain a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field to grasp the fundamentals of product development. While not mandatory, most successful technical PMs also go on to pursue an MBA to enhance their business knowledge.
2. Get certified: Pursue relevant industry certifications, such as Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or Certified Associate in Product Management (CAPM), to demonstrate your knowledge and commitment to the field.
3. Gain hands-on experience: Gaining experience in software development is often a prerequisite. It helps you understand the technical limitations and challenges faced by engineers.
4. Build your portfolio: Showcase your skills by working on personal projects, contributing to open-source projects, or taking on freelance product management gigs to build a tangible portfolio of your accomplishments.
5. Network strategically: Engage with other professionals in the field through events, online forums, and social media. Networking can open up opportunities and provide valuable insights.
6. Continuous learning: Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in product management through online courses, workshops, conferences, podcasts, blogs, and webinars. Speaking of webinars, Userpilot has tons of on-demand webinars to help technical PMs master user onboarding, product analytics, and much more.

How can Userpilot help technical product managers?

Userpilot is an all-in-one product growth tool with features to help you understand users better and deploy engaging in-app experiences.

Userpilot is a resourceful tool for tech PMs and can help in different ways, such as:

• User feedback collection: Gain access to different survey templates that you can customize to meet your design needs. You can build surveys from scratch if you need full customization. It’s also possible to add different types of open-ended and close-ended questions, set conditional logic and even a progress bar to gamify the experience.

• Analytics reports: With Userpilot, you can track product performance with key reports such as funnel analysis, path analysis, trends analysis, and more. The insights from this will help you make better growth-driven decisions. For example, using funnel analysis, you can see how users move from one stage to another, identify drop-off points, and implement changes to improve conversion rates.

• Analytics dashboards: This feature lets you track key product metrics with ease. You can choose from various dashboard templates, such as product usage and core feature engagement dashboards or build custom analytics dashboards that highlight only the metrics you’re interested in.

• Heatmaps: Use heatmaps to track UI interactions for each feature and identify areas of high and low engagement. This will help you better prioritize product improvements or identify usability issues that need attention.

Conclusion

As products become more complex and technology-driven, the role of technical product managers will become increasingly important, driving innovation and success within their organizations.

Want to know how Userpilot can assist you in technical product management? Book a demo with our team, and we’ll show you how.

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