Why do some projects succeed while others fall apart?
Often, it comes down to the project manager.
A PM can keep schedules moving, but without technical knowledge they miss risks, accept bad estimates, and waste developer time in endless back-and-forth.
Having a technical PM on the project changes that.
They can spot risks early, explain trade-offs clearly, and let developers spend time solving problems instead of explaining them.
In this article, we’ll discuss why every complex project needs a technical PM – we’ll cover how they improve estimates, cut costs, speed up releases, and prevent critical failures.
Let’s dive in!
Key takeaways:
Technical PMs drive better outcomes. They spot risks early, create realistic development timelines, and make smarter decisions.
Technical PMs cut long-term costs. By preventing rework, reducing technical debt, and keeping developers focused on building features, they keep your budget under control.
They keep communication direct. Clients and stakeholders get quick answers, while developers stay focused on coding.
They make delivery reliable. Releases run safely, integrations work smoothly, and productivity stays high.
Table of Contents
Better project outcomes
A technical PM doesn’t just manage schedules. They directly influence the direction and outcome of your project.
They can look at your plan and spot weak points early.
They ask the hard questions: Is this architecture stable? Will this shortcut create technical debt? Does this approach make sense for the long run?
This can completely change your project’s trajectory.
One time, a client wanted to refactor a legacy app written in Objective-C, which was cheaper and faster on paper. But I showed them the risks – unused features, outdated code, technical debt. I recommended starting fresh in Swift. They agreed, and the result was faster development and a stable, modern product.
A non-technical PM would likely have just accepted the client’s request and tried to fit it into a budget.
The outcome would have been slower development, higher costs, and a system weighed down by old problems.
Sometimes the simple solution is the best one, but a PM can only see it if they understand both the business problem and the technology.
On one project, the team built an AI solution that only improved productivity by under 10%. It wasn’t enough. I spotted a simpler approach: reusing existing data the client already had. That boosted productivity by 30% and saved the project.
It’s this combination of technical knowledge and project leadership that leads to better outcomes.
A technical PM can offer multiple solutions and ensure the project fully aligns with both business goals and technical realities.
That’s why their impact goes beyond keeping the project moving. They make sure you’re building the right solution, not just delivering features.
More accurate planning and estimates
Accurate planning starts with accurate estimates.
If they’re wrong, deadlines slip, budgets explode, and trust breaks down.
A technical PM brings real development experience to this process.
They know when a “five-day” task is really a five-minute fix. They know when something that looks simple actually hides weeks of work.
This makes the whole plan more reliable:
Clients/stakeholders know what to expect
Developers get realistic deadlines
You avoid the cycle of overpromising and underdelivering
Plus, they can give estimates in real-time.
That kind of experience changes the dynamic with clients.
A client needed an urgent change and wanted an estimate right away. It was an analytics implementation, and I’d built something similar before. Within minutes I gave them a realistic range. The client was happy, and the developers kept working without interruption.
Boris Plavljanic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
Instead of waiting days for an answer, they get an informed estimate on the spot.
This builds trust and keeps the project moving without pulling developers out of their flow.
It also changes how sprint planning works, too.
A technical PM can break down vague tasks into clear steps for each phase of the sprint and spot hidden dependencies before they cause delays.
That makes each sprint more realistic and gives the team a clear roadmap to follow.
Most importantly, it helps you avoid surprises.
You stay informed, developers stay on track, and your deadlines get met.
Lower total development costs
Few things burn through a budget faster than bad technical decisions.
A technical PM steps in to stop those decisions before they even happen.
They understand when a “quick fix” really means months of rework later or when an auto-scaling setup looks efficient but could lead to runaway AWS bills.
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And they’ll push for choices that save money over the life of the project, not just on paper today.
Here’s how a technical PM lowers costs in practice:
Less technical debt – They flag risky shortcuts early so you don’t spend months cleaning them up later.
Fewer wasted features – They challenge feature requests that add no real value and cut work you don’t need.
More focus for developers – They handle most technical questions themselves so developers spend their time coding instead of sitting in meetings
Fewer failed integrations – They test integrations up front and prevent failures that could double development costs.
Smarter infrastructure choices – They recommend solutions that best fit your long-term needs, so you don’t need to worry about expensive migrations later.
These aren’t small savings.
Catching a risky integration early might save weeks of work, while cutting an unused feature could free up an entire sprint.
The result is simple: with a technical PM, you spend less time and money on fixing mistakes and more on building what actually matters.
And that’s key if you want to keep development costs in check.
No communication overhead
Communication can make or break a project.
But with a non-technical PM, it often turns into a game of broken telephone.
The client asks a question. The PM passes it to the developers. The developers explain. Then the PM translates it back.
Every step takes time and risks misunderstanding. And developers lose focus every time they’re pulled into these conversations.
With a non-technical PM, communication turns into what I call a ‘glorified secretary’ model. The client asks, the PM takes notes, then runs to the dev team, then back again. It creates a lot of unnecessary communication. I can answer many of those questions directly and save everyone the back-and-forth.
Vedrana Colic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
A technical PM cuts all that out since they understand both the business and the technical side.
So, instead of 3 people involved in one conversation, you only need 2 – the client/stakeholder and the PM.
This is a win-win situation for everyone involved: clients get immediate feedback, developers can stay focused, and you avoid delays caused by miscommunication.
And that’s the difference a technical PM makes.
Early risk detection
Every project carries some level of risk.
The question is whether you manage them early or only when they’ve already damaged your project.
A technical PM thinks like an engineer and has an engineering mindset.
Being a technical PM means thinking like an engineer even though you’re not coding anymore. You look at every decision and ask: what can go wrong, and how do we prevent it?
Vedrana Colic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
That mindset saves time and money.
And when you flag risks early, you can adjust before they impact development or eat into your budget.
Here are some examples of risks a technical PM can flag early:
Scalability bottlenecks – Spotting when the chosen architecture can’t handle future growth.
Integration risks – Testing APIs and third-party systems early before they derail your roadmap.
Security gaps – Identifying weak authentication or unsafe data flows before release.
Technical debt – Pushing back on shortcuts that will cost more to fix later.
Infrastructure costs – Flagging when overbuilt or underbuilt solutions could inflate long-term expenses.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The key thing is that they don’t wait passively for risks to appear – they proactively mitigate them.
Factors like scalability, security, fragile integrations, and edge-case bugs are on their radar from day one.
So, instead of reacting after the fact, they prevent the problem from ever reaching production.
And that’s key for long-term growth and success.
Faster and safer releases
Releases are the moments where everything comes together. They’re also when things can go badly wrong.
If a release fails, you lose stakeholder trust and team morale dips.
That’s why releases need structure and foresight, not last-minute scrambling. And a technical PM will make your releases faster and safer.
They understand how features depend on each other. They organize sprints so work is delivered in the right order.
When something blocks a release, they don’t just escalate it up the chain – they act. They change priorities and reorganize tasks to keep it on track.
When something blocks a release, I don’t wait. I reorganize the sprint, shift priorities, and make sure we can still deliver on time.
Boris Plavljanic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
And that’s not all. A technical PM also focuses on the security of each release.
They validate technical decisions that affect each release. They make sure proper testing is in place. They know that rollbacks are a critical part of the plan.
A non-technical PM might not even know these risks exist, let alone prepare for them.
This proactive approach changes how releases feel for your team.
Instead of rushed chaos at the end of a sprint, the process is smooth and predictable. Releases become a routine milestone, not a stressful firefight.
Here are a few specific ways technical PMs improve them:
Shorter release cycles because tasks are broken down logically.
Safer deployments thanks to risk checks and testing oversight.
Less downtime because rollbacks are planned in advance.
Fewer surprises at the last minute because dependencies are tracked from the start.
With a technical PM at the wheel, your releases won’t be a half-baked mess your team dreads.
They keep momentum going and give clients confidence that the team can deliver consistently.
And that consistency is key for successful development.
Cleaner third-party integrations
Integrations are one of the most common sources of project delays.
On paper, they look simple – you just connect them to your software and voila!
In reality, they’re messy. Outdated documentation, unexpected API behavior, and legacy systems create unpredictable issues.
A non-technical PM may assume an integration is just another task in the backlog. A technical PM knows better.
With AI, for example, clients often think it’s a simple plug-and-play solution. I explain the real complexities, like the cost of API tokens, the need to optimize the communication pipeline, and what realistic outcomes look like. A non-technical PM would be lost on the first day.
Vedrana Colic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
They understand that integrations carry unique risks. That’s why they plan for them early.
Instead of waiting until the end of development, they test integrations up front. They validate assumptions about APIs. They check if the architecture can actually support the connection.
And if something breaks, they already have a plan for a workaround.
Whenever I hear the phrase “easy integration”, alarm bells go off. The documentation is almost always wrong, and plug-and-play solutions don’t really exist.
Vedrana Colic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
This mindset changes the whole process.
A technical PM will:
Flag integrations as high-risk items from the start.
Prioritize testing them early instead of leaving them until the last sprint.
Have a backup plan ready if the integration fails or behaves differently than expected.
That proactive approach can save you weeks of wasted effort.
Instead of discovering at the last minute that an integration won’t work, the team identifies the issues early and solves them before they block the project.
In the end, cleaner integrations mean fewer delays, less frustration, and more confidence in the product.
And that’s exactly what you should want.
Critical failure prevention
Every project is inherently risky.
You can manage most risks with careful planning, of course
But some are critical. If you miss them, they can sink the entire project.
A technical PM is your best safeguard against those failures. They can see when an approach that looks fine on paper won’t survive real-world use.
A client wanted to build their production app on a frontend-only prototype. I told them it wouldn’t work – no backend, no data handling, no stability. They ignored the warning. When the app launched, payments failed and data was lost. The whole project collapsed.
Boris Plavljanic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
This isn’t an isolated case.
Critical failures often come from the same blind spots:
Building on top of weak or incomplete architectures
Ignoring technical debt until it breaks the system
Choosing quick fixes that don’t work in the real world
Assuming prototypes can scale without redesign
A technical PM has the mindset and experience to push back against decisions like these.
They don’t just accept the plan as given and challenge it if it threatens the project’s success.
That’s why having a technical PM isn’t just an advantage.
It’s often the difference between a product that ships and one that fails completely.
Improved team productivity
A project doesn’t succeed on planning alone. It succeeds when the team can focus on doing their best work.
Developers lose time when they have to be pulled into meetings to explain every technical detail. They lose focus when they have to justify every estimate.
And they get frustrated when decisions are made without understanding the technical reality.
Having a technical PM on your project removes those distractions.
They can answer most client questions directly, explain technical trade-offs in business terms, and validate estimates so developers don’t have to defend them in every conversation.
Developers respect when you understand their work. If I say we need to cut scope or take a shortcut, they know it’s because I’ve weighed the trade-offs.
Boris Plavljanic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
That respect builds trust. And trust is key to productivity.
You should want your devs to spend more time building features and less time in back-and-forth discussions.
And if a PM understands their challenges, they will feel much more motivated.
I work closely with developers and understand their problems. That makes it easier to accept when something slips, because I know why it happened. I think I’m more understanding toward them since I know what they’re dealing with.
Boris Plavljanic, Technical Project Manager at DECODE
This means you get fewer interruptions, more focused sprints, higher team morale, and less friction between different teams.
The result isn’t just faster development.
It’s better quality, less burnout, and a team that feels motivated to do their best work.
Why you need a technical PM: FAQs
A technical lead owns the architecture and development choices. They guide the engineers, review code, and make technical design decisions.
A technical PM, on the other hand, owns the project as a whole. They focus on:
Planning
Estimates
Risk management
Client/stakeholder communication
What makes them different from non-technical PMs is their ability to understand the technical details and bring that into every decision.
The two roles work side by side: the technical lead drives the “how” of building, while the technical PM ensures the project stays aligned with timelines, budgets, and business goals.
Non-technical PMs more often than not need developers to step in for technical conversations.
This creates delays and constant interruptions. Having a technical PM avoids that – they understand the technical side, so they can answer many client questions directly.
They translate complex issues into business terms, defend estimates with clear reasoning, and explain trade-offs in a way that builds trust.
This gives clients clarity and confidence, while keeping developers focused on their work instead of repeating explanations.
Yes, and not by rushing the team – but by making the development process more efficient.
A technical PM knows how tasks depend on each other, so they can organize sprints without bottlenecks. They can step in quickly when a blocker appears and reorganize priorities to keep everything on track.
And they also validate estimates, so your deadlines are realistic from the start.
The result is faster releases, fewer delays, and a delivery process you can rely on.
Looking for a reliable development partner?
Building complex software takes more than coding skills. You need a partner who deeply understands the technology as well as the process.
That’s exactly what you get with us.
We’re an EU-based software development company with 13+ years of experience delivering enterprise-grade custom software across a variety of industries, from healthcare to logistics.
And we’re confident our team of top engineers and technical PMs can get even the most complex project over the line.
So, if you’ve got a project in mind, get in touch. We’ll set up a quick call, learn about your goals, and show you how we can help bring your idea to life.
Mario makes every project run smoothly. A firm believer that people are DECODE’s most vital resource, he naturally grew into his former role as People Operations Manager. Now, his encyclopaedic knowledge of every DECODEr’s role, and his expertise in all things tech, enables him to guide DECODE's technical vision as CTO to make sure we're always ahead of the curve.
Part engineer, and seemingly part therapist, Mario is always calm under pressure, which helps to maintain the office’s stress-free vibe. In fact, sitting and thinking is his main hobby. What’s more Zen than that?
