What are the non-technical things a civil engineer can do?

I am a software engineer moving to product management in the same company. What are some of the initial pitfalls that i should look for? What are some things i can do be successful in the short term and the long term?

• More background: I have been a software engineer at this company for a little over two years and i have a very good understanding of the industry, our product and the codebase. I am generally a go-to person for many people both inside and outside engineering. I always knew product management is what i wanted to do but i also wanted to be an engineer for a few years before i jumped on that ship. When an opportunity to work as a PM on the same product that i helped to build came, i was very happy to accept it. How can i ensure that engineers with whom i have worked alongside all this while take this well? What are some areas where i should focus more in the initial few months?

• Answer:

  Congratulations! You’re about to see the world in a whole new way. The great thing about product management is you work across all parts of the organization—development, marketing, sales, services, support, finance, and the executive team. The secret to success is to know the potential customers for your product better than anyone else. Your job, particularly with development, is to explain the personas and their problems. The who and the what. You’ll want to be very cautious of telling your team how to solve the problems. Your challenge will be your technical background will lead you to describe exactly how you think the problem should be solved. The ideal scenario is to set up a design group—yourself, a user experience person, a developer—to review your market requirements and determine the best approach for solving those problems. And don’t forget that your “product” is more than software. The product is what people buy, so they probably need services and support as well as software. In the short term, the way you earn credibility with your team is market expertise. They will likely attempt to pull you into design and specifications but that’s the life you left behind. Longer term, this market expertise will help you communicate with the rest of the organization. You’ll be able to tell stories of how real customers use the product to solve real-world problems. You already have strong technical expertise. Now you’ll want to expand your skills in market, domain, and business. For more on the four types of expertise, read my (free) http://www.under10consulting.com/writing/expert