The “Talking Tech” Toolkit

I often get asked if you need to have a technical degree to be a product manager, because I have one. While my technical degree did help with some granular items, I found some of the biggest challenges were figuring out how to add value to technical discussions and bring that value back to stakeholders and customers. These skills were built up over time, and I call it my “talking tech toolkit”! I’d like to help squash the myth that you need to know how to code to be a good PM, and help PMs focus on building the right skills to get the job done through examples of where I succeeded and where I failed. I have a shorter version of my talk (10 minutes) that I will share in this submission, but the longer version of my talk will enable me to go even deeper into these examples of failure, learning, and (ultimately) success!

Takeways:

1. Adding value to a technical discussion is not about learning how to code, or understanding every part of the technical nuances – this is a misconception in the Product Management space.
2. You need to build up your technical toolkit to be able to effectively work with your team and stakeholders, with the goal of building the best product for your customers. You can’t always rely on your tech leads!
3. Here are 6 tools I have in my toolkit that I use, that you can use too! (showcased through examples). You need to find what works for you.