I personally think it's better to have a developer as product manager, since a developer has a more logical understanding of the project which makes easier for the whole development team to work together.
What's your opinion? Do developers make good product managers?
my problem with these questions is: do generalizations help in general ? :)
A friend of mine likes to program but he always was more the PM kinda guy so he's a perfect Yes he excels at it.
I on the other hand don't want to concerne myself with the question of the best solution spending hours debating it. I want to have the specs so I can start to work, I tend to question designs and talk with specific people but product ownership taken seriously can easily be a full-time job.
I wouldn't.
Even though I'm capable to manage both teams and products, I really don't like it. And do you know what kind of work people who don't like their job do? Exactly. Crappy.
I think anyone with the right ambitions can be great product managers. Despite what others say, they don't even need to have coding nor technical background. They just need a trustworthy engineer who can bring them up to date with all the technical stuff when it's needed.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't say no developer is going to ever be a good product manager. It's just not for everyone.
Mev-Rael
Executive Product Leader & Mentor for High-End Influencers and Brands @ mevrael.com
Managers in IT SHOULD BE software engineers. They grow from typical coding job.
Problem we have today is - companies just hiring young people without engineering experience and call them managers. Well, I call such people just engineer's assistants who can "make you a tea". How you can manage people and processes you don't understand?
However, being a good manager means having passion and experience in couple of disciplines:
To be responsible for product, one should be very good in both software engineering and design thinking. Engineering managers might have less design experience, while managers/art directors in design agencies might have less engineering experience. Nonetheless, social skills are the most important and understanding business also.
Yes, of course, developers may become good product managers, non-developers will need to additionally waste at least 2 years to get engineering experience. I, personally, for years, not working with any manager who has no solid experience in engineering.