Do platforms/infrastructure need product managers?
e.g. a backend that is used by multiple channels/clients inside the company, talking to the engineers/product managers of the front end applications about the different APIs the platform offers and which APIs satisfy their use case, digital transformation platforms where you need to onboard all the front end teams to the new platform and off the legacy system, when you’re not doing that, you’re a product owner on a scrum team for a micro service component and telling them the requirements for x y z projects and capabilities, unblocking engineers, escalating, etc.
A platform needs to sell as a product. Internally and outer nally Good ex: iOS Bad ex: react native
I’m working on this and I’m telling u no
Then you're probably not good at what you're doing. Infra is also a product who's customers are others in the company. You need to know what to build for them to help them better.
Are engineers spending time talking to customers and prioritizing?
Sure mate, why not
Thats why we have Technical Product Managers
So does Aws not need product managers?
Internal and external product are different
Doesn’t matter - engineering resources need groomed stories to deliver good outcome.
It is still a product, but the PM definitely needs a stronger dev background than business.