People ask me if it's necessary to have a CS degree or have worked as an engineer to be a good product manager.

I think that the degree is a proxy for being able to talk to engineers, so, no.

But there's one thing that I would not have gotten had I not started as an engineer.

As someone who was a software engineer turned product manager,

I remember the ways in which I personally didn't like to be managed as as an engineer,

and I try to be mindful of that in the way I work with engineers.

As an engineer:

It's frustrating to see technical decisions being made that don't make any sense to me, the person who looks at the code every day.

It's frustrating when my technical knowledge isn't honoured.

It's frustrating when I have to implement a feature I don't get.

It's frustrating to be on a project where priorities keep shifting (and those shifts aren't communicated or explained).

It's frustrating to have too many syncs.

It's frustrating to have constant exploding deadlines.

It's frustrating to be micromanaged.

A lot of it boils down to:

- Honouring people and their strengths.

- Making them feel appreciated.

- Making sure that they have agency to work on what they're excited about within the scope of business needs.

- Communicating priorities/timelines/impact concisely and often.