I think it depends, a product owner needs to inject subject matter expertise. It can be that they know how to program, but it also could be that they deeply und

I think it depends, a product owner needs to inject subject matter expertise. It can be that they know how to program, but it also could be that they deeply understand customers. In digital health setting I’ve met a few drs-turn-pms who were excellent because they could translate between what drs wanted and what engineering was thinking in a way that swe-turn-pm would struggle. Of course, the best dr pm I know also learned how to program in python because he enjoyed it (and he even shipped some small self-contained projects!). The least effective pm I met was a non-dr non-swe who didn’t have deep understanding of either side and essentially tried to apply general pm-principles-from-a-book. But even they were positive value after a quarter of finding their place.