What is a TPM? Technical Product Manager Role Explained (JD Included)
This article will focus on Technical Product Management in the software industry.
First Question:
WHAT IS A TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER?
The obvious answer is “A technical product manager is a product manager who also has a technical background”, but there is more to it than that.
As a Technical Product Manager, you are responsible for the “how” of bringing the vision of the product to life while keeping the technical aspects in focus as user stories are crafted.
You get this done by guiding the development teams from the initial conception stage through the iteration stage. Creating product roadmaps, milestones, effective priorities in the backlog, quick wins, and long-term goals.
You will continuously cycle through these stages for each new launch, patch, or update.
It overlaps with the Product Manager, but we will get into the overlaps and differences later.
Now let’s look at the actual responsibilities.
WHAT ARE A TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITIES?
As a Technical Product Manager, your job is to ensure that the product development takes into account a technical perspective, making sure that user stories address technical features and acceptance criteria.
This requires you to have a deep knowledge of your dev team’s activities, as well as adjacent dev teams, the commercial teams (like sales and marketing), and the C-level.
Typical duties involve:
Motivate a team of devs and designers
Communicate effectively with technical and commercial teams
Translate business requirements from user stories into technical requirements
Guide an initiative to create and improve product ideas
Creating product roadmaps by defining product objectives, prioritizing the backlog, analyzing feasibility
Optimizing development processes
Ensuring product-market fit for each new feature or product by keeping up with industry technology trends
This level of oversight of the product development leads to some interesting opportunities, let’s go over them now.
WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DOES A TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER HAVE?
The TPM role is a great next step if you are an engineer that is looking to get into people management.
It comes with unique opportunities such as:
Designing and owning the product strategy
Promoting ideas to features or products
Managing a team of technical, QA, and non-technical members
Coordinating between all levels of the business
Prototyping new products and features
Being the bridge between user stories and the technical aspects of product development
Learn more about the 7 stages of Technical Product Management here.
If you have read this far you are probably interested in working as a TPM, so let’s go over the requirements for the role.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE A TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER?
A TPM is a more technical role, so the requirements will be more focused on the technical aspects of product management and development.
These will vary from company to company, but can include:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical major, or equivalent experience.
Experience managing technical or engineering products or programs.
Basic understanding of the product life cycle, performance, and technical problem-solving approach
Excellent communication skills both written, in-person, and remote
Experience leading an Agile team
Technical writing ability
If you are still unsure, here are some frequently asked questions that we get about Technical Product Management.
FAQ
What is the difference between a TPM and a PM?
Often Product Managers and Technical Product Managers will work alongside each other within larger companies that have the human resources to specialize.
As a Technical Product Manager you will be more focused on building the product itself, the “how” to the Product Manager’s “What and Why”
This means you will communicate the needs and thoughts of the internal engineering teams to the PM, who is working closely with the commercial teams.
Does a TPM need to code?
This can vary across companies, but generally no.
Although you will not be working as a developer, you will need to get in the weeds to check the code, run queries, and communicate the issues effectively with your team.
The ability itself will also help you gain the trust of your dev team, which can be critical in a TPM role.
IS TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER A MANAgement position?
A TPM is not a manager position.
You will be managing the product and not people.
You can be Technical Product Manager even if you just started your career.
Interested in working as a Technical Product Manager? Message us here!