# Working with Product Managers ## The What There are many types of Product Managers based on their product type, seniority, focused domain, etc. **Consumer PM** Focus on UX, care about details, and have a strong product sense. **Technical PM** Has a strong technical background and works on a technical product. e.g., an API, a knowledge graph, a SaaS product, etc **Data PM** Similar to Technical PM, but works on a data product, e.g., an ML model, a data pipeline, etc. **AI PM** Similar to Technical and Data PM, but works on an AI product, e.g., an AI agent, an AI model, etc. **Business PM** has a strong business-oriented background, business model first, margin, market opportunity, stakeholder value **Growth PM** Focus on optimising a product by analysing product metrics, driving conversion and retention **Head of Product** Lead of PM team, responsible for the product strategy, roadmap, and team management. ## The How As a Tech Lead, we should be able to work with all types of product managers and find the sweet spot to contribute to the team, and meanwhile, fill the gap if needed. ### Daily Delivery * Improve the delivery process via inspiring the dev team * Balance the feature development and technical debt * Get Product Manager buy in the technical roadmap * Encourage the team to challenge decisions * Is it a good decision? * Does it make sense? * Any other ways to do so? * Avoid transactional culture - specification, documentation, contract, estimation, etc * It works for the problem with a relatively concrete solution * Innovation is anti the transactional culture ### People * Share technical topics with the Product Manager (manage sideways) * Encourage dev team to provide feedback to the Product Manager, and vice versa * Soften the tension between Developers and UXers ## :red\_circle: Red Flags * Focus on customer or sales support, BAU (What is the next big thing) * Focus on the process rather than the outcome (We should prefer [practice over process](/tech-lead-handbook/product/practice-vs-process.md)) ## :scroll: Tips * Set up a weekly catch-up * Let the Product Manager know your tech roadmap * Share the big rocks and potential risks, proactively take actions * Pair with the Product Manager to deliver customer value * Challenge things that don’t make sense (Speak up) ## Refs * [The Different Types of Product Manager](https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/types-product-management-roles/) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://jamiewen00.gitbook.io/tech-lead-handbook/product/working-with-product-managers.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.