Do Good Engineers make Good Product Managers?

Not too long ago, the world celebrated “Engineer’s day”. Ok, exaggeration! Maybe, only we engineers celebrated it. When I read about that, it got me looking back to years of questions from employers, acquaintances and clients - who find the idea of engineering, especially aerospace engineering fascinating but cannot seem to make sense of what that has got to do with building software products or building a startup. If you ask me, these are more closely related then what would appear at first glance. Heck, I have lived it for for more than a decade.

My unabashedly biased view is that good engineers make good product managers. If they can learn some softer skills then they can go from good in the direction of great.

What do you think? 

Arguments and counter arguments are invited.

engineer
?nd???n??/
noun
a  person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or structures.
synonyms:
designer, planner, builder, architect, producer, fabricator, developer, creator

Things you learn in Engineering 

You might get an incomplete picture if you look only at the subject list. Typically subjects that engineering education deals with are physics, chemistry, mathematics, thermodynamics, mechanics, structures, advanced mathematics, applied mathematics. Did I say maths?

The real focus is on learning new technical concepts, analysing information and problem solving. You cannot solve the problems unless you adequately understand the concepts, develop system understanding and are able to apply what you have learnt. Often the challenge is in formulating the problem. At times, solving a problem is easier than formulating. Here are key skills I learnt as an Engineer that are very useful in building or managing the development of software products.

1. Logical thinking and reasoning 

Asking the right questions and breaking down the problem helps with problem formulation. Whether you can solve a problem often depends on whether you can solve it.

A user or a customer may come up with a request such as “I want to get to the moon. How soon can you build a bridge to the moon?” This request may seem facetious, but is not far off from what you often hear from customers and prospects.

A good engineer will then ask a series of questions starting with why.

Why do you need a bridge?

What is your budget?

What if we cannot build a bridge, what are the alternatives that are acceptable?

How soon do you need this and why?

Do you know the earth revolves around itself and the moon revolves around the earth? The distance between earth and moon changes - making a static structure physically impossible.

More such questions can actually lead to better understanding of the problem and requirements and may result in a solution not envisioned by the customer. Such as you don’t need a bridge because it’s too expensive, is technically not feasible and will cost way more than your budget. 

Based on this Q and A the problem could be boiled down to : need a mode of transport to the moon in x years and within a budget of Y. 

The answer to this could be completely different from the original user demands. Now you could be looking at building a spaceship instead of an impossible bridge.

This is very similar to building a V1 product for demanding customers or executing on a vision which may seem impossible or far out at first.

2. Creative problem solving 

A simple definition could be - applying what you have learnt and your imagination to come up with solutions to new or old problems. Typically these would be designing a widget kind of problems. Depending on the type of engineering you could be asked to designs bridge, building, an aircraft, a chip, an automobile, and engine, a ship or a software system.

Often the task of building a product is very similar to this. Nobody may have done the exact same thing before. You can use models of other products that do similar things to emulate, or partially replicate. After that you still have to see how you could extend. This requires the ability to synthesise knowledge, extrapolate and at times see beyond what has been already done. Often, innovation can stem from such creative problem solving.

3. Curiosity or Student mentality - always learning

When you graduate high school you may feel like you know everything, but when you hit college you realise that there is so much to learn and meeting others who know more or are better can be a humbling and educational experience. Good engineers realised that which subject you take there is a lot they don’t know was there is always more to learn.

4. Wholistic view of things - systems thinking

Engineers often learn to combine multiple disciplines to solve complex problems. This requires what is called systems thinking. To build a vehicle engine you must understand and apply - mechanics, combustion, metallurgy, electronics and control theory.

To build a product you have to understand the business needs, technology, market trends and your own team’s or company’s ability to build the product. If you take the total product view and also want to not just build a product but also work towards its success then you also have to look at how the product can be marketed and sold. Now as the product manager you need to understand these multiple functions, work with multiple teams and be able to influence the overall outcome.

If being a good product manager is not enough and you want to strive for being great, stay tuned. In my next article I will write about the softer skills required to be a great product manager.

Kaustubh Patekar - a lifelong student, builder of products, startups and an Aerospace Engineer by training from IIT Bombay and MIT. Co-Founder of Advott, a media and entertainment startup with a vision to eliminate video piracy. I also advise select startups from time to time.