[matrix]

The core point of the essay, that product design is a different skill to software development, is obviously true, but to me this feels a bit like the title "Software Architect" was 10 years ago; i.e. people who want to design software products without the pesky whole writing software part.

Like being a dev manager, defining the vision, design, etc requires a different set of skills from development. However, a person can do those jobs much better if they have spent time in the trenches. They understand costs and tradeoffs better, can better sell the ideas to the team, and so on.

[pedalpete]

Let me give you a counter-point. I was hired by my current employer as a software engineer. I love writing software. Unfortunately, in our team, we didn't have anybody who was good at managing product development. Features where thrown in willy-nilly, design often not well thought through because designers weren't given enough time and developers could just go develop.

I was/am the worst Software Engineer in the group (these guys are seriously awesome), so they had me take over product management and only spend part of my time coding.

I'm not an 'architect', I don't design the technical systems. I design the product systems, and implement features along with the rest of the engineers, but my time is split between managing the product and doing the development.

I fell into the role because I like considering the user/marketing/etc as well as doing the software development.

I've been putting "Product Manager/Software Engineer" on my email signature because I didn't know that "Product Engineer" existed..

As I work for a technical organization, I think they'll appreciate the product engineer label more.

[matrix]

I agree with you. A product manager doesn't need to be a great developer - they just need sufficient experience with development to assess the impact and complexity of changes, and to better understand where there might be opportunities. You have that plus passion for the role, which is a rare combination. Hopefully your employer recognizes the value of it!

[DavidChouinard]

The clearest way to see the difference is how natural the product engineering phenomena is — it's been happening and we just need a name.