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Transitioning into a product role, I often find myself calibrating between technical proficiency and product strategy.
So how technical do you need to be as a product manager?
Well… it depends.
On the product.
On the company.
On the maturity of the product function.
But as I observe the best technical product managers, they tend to move in and out of the tech landscape with ease by exhibiting a few key behaviors:
➡️ They seamlessly balance product strategy with technical detail.
Business leaders value their insights. Engineers appreciate their clarity on what’s important to build—and why.
➡️ They focus first on the user experience, while understanding just enough about architecture, system constraints, and the tech stack to make smart tradeoffs.
Their technical fluency helps them ask better questions—and better questions lead to better products.
➡️ Their curiosity fuels their focus.
Whether the challenge is strategic or technical, they lean in wherever the product needs them most.
➡️ They can tell the story of why a feature matters—to both technical and non-technical audiences.
They bring clarity through content, visuals, and data that resonate broadly.
➡️ They’re generous learners.
They give away knowledge freely, believing in shared understanding as the foundation of better products and stronger teams.
I’m still calibrating. Still learning.
Do these resonate with you?