There's a specific role most organizations don't have a name for: the person who sits between the business and the engineering team, translating intent into specifications detailed enough to build against. Different industries call it different things — product architect, fractional product lead, technical product partner.
Why developers usually shouldn't do it
Strong engineers can write specs, but their incentive is to build, not to question whether the right thing is being built. Asking the team that's going to do the work to also define the work is a structural conflict of interest.
Why a PM usually can't do it alone
Most internal PMs are managing existing products, not standing up new ones. The pre-engineering phase requires workflow mapping, architecture decisions, and prototyping — a different skill set than ongoing product management.
What ProtoPath does
We're the product architecture partner that runs the pre-engineering phase end-to-end and hands engineering a buildable, estimable, defensible specification. See the full service set and engagement model, or book a discovery call to talk through your project.
Next step
Find out if your product is ready for development
Six questions, two minutes, and a tailored outcome. Or book a discovery call and we'll talk through your project.