3 things product managers need to know about software

As a product manager, you might think that your chances of learning computer science and programming related topics are slim to none. But learning the basics of software architecture is a great way to understand how long projects will take to develop, what's possible, and what your engineering team is doing. You can keep reading the blog to learn about the topics you need to know as a product manager.

How the internet works

It may seem like a big topic, but it's quite simple to understand the basics.

Server - in very basic terms, a server is a computer (for example, the backend part of your web application) that runs and serves somewhere for you all the time.

Client - This depends on the context, but often the client is your (or one of your users') computers or phones.

Client / Server communication - this is a broad category that covers many technical topics, but they all have the same goal: to ensure communication between clients (your user's computer) and servers (your background). Some of the many things you may have heard of in this category: DNS, HTTP, TCP/IP, API calls, etc.

Basics of Web Applications

Here is a list of basic topics you need to know about how most modern web and mobile apps work:

Frontend means the code that runs in each user's browser (client) and the interface with which your users interact.

Backend - refers to the code that runs on servers controlled by the company and is where the main logic of the business resides.

Database is a technology that stores all the data of your application, running on a server controlled by your team.

SQL queries are how the backend part interacts with the database to store or retrieve data. It can be helpful to learn the basics of SQL to analyze your own data for analytical reports.

Open Source Libraries

Open source libraries are small pieces of code that one type of programmer offers for others to use. Almost all modern web applications use a large amount of open source code. From a product management point of view, the main category of open source software that you can decide on is UI elements, because the libraries used in the backend of the application do not make any difference to users.

You can make the applications you want to develop faster by applying the user interface. If you're early stage and need to get a functional MVP as fast as possible, it's recommended to use Google's Material UI framework. At later stages, it is recommended to work on your own design system to achieve uniqueness (although the core code is still based on open source libraries).