Ask HN: What Are Good Product Manager Qualities

4 pointsm11171 comment

How important are design skills for a product person? Is it more important to have engineering background or good design skills?

View on HN

A basic understanding of the development process is necessary since product managers need to be able to work with the engineering team, but since PMs don't write code, they don't need to have an engineering background. I think design skills are more important. (They may need an engineering background if you have a very technical product, like an IDE, that's being sold to developers.)

What you didn't mention, and what I think is very important in a PM, is "people skills". PMs have to be able to interact effectively with the sales, marketing, and support organizations, and also with users. They have to be able to envision themselves in the position of the user, and have empathy for users problems.

(I'm an engineering manager who has worked closely with many PMs over the years.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com