How To Lead a Tech Discovery Without a Tech Background

Working with developers can be intimidating. If you don’t have a tech background, the jargon they use can go way above your head.

Early in my career, I’d hide my insecurities by writing a product spec as detailed as I can. Forcing my developers to give an estimate based on the spec. We’d miss dates and I’d burn out the team.

Now I realised that was the wrong approach.

To create world-class tech products, business and tech must be embedded together. A modern Product Manager needs to play an active role in the solution discovery process.

So how do you lead a technical discovery as a Product Manager without a technical background?

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In this post, I’ll show you the technical process every product goes through, so you know what to do at the right time.

Technical Solution Design is a Team Effort

During this phase, the PM and the Tech Lead work hand in hand. The PM will provide the strategic context, and the Tech Lead will guide the tech team to discover a feasible solution. The entire team will whiteboard solutions and challenge each other on different technical approaches.

Some companies might have more or less steps but it all starts from this

At its core, it’s a five-step process that involves the following steps:

1. Align the product context with your team
2. Brainstorm technical approaches for the product solution
3. Validate the technical solution with research
4. Create a proof of concept to test the solution
5. Learn from the proof of concept and plan for next steps

Let’s dive into each phase to see what a PM should do in each step.

1) Aligning the Product Context

In the alignment phase, a Product Manager’s job is to make sure everyone is working off the same context. You need to set up a workshop to get everyone on the same page.