From BIM to Product Management: Rethinking the Role of Digital Engineers

What exactly is our role as Digital Engineers?

We plan, align, troubleshoot, and facilitate. We own no drawings—but orchestrate their delivery. We define standards—yet rely on others to apply them. We lead without always being seen as leaders.

That ambiguity led me to look outside AEC for a better frame—and I found one in the tech world: the Product Manager.

At first glance, construction and tech feel miles apart. But the more I studied both roles, the more parallels I saw between Digital Engineering leads and Product Managers.

What We Share

1. Process Oversight

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Oversees BIM standards, processes, and workflows

   • Product Management: Oversees product roadmaps, feature priorities, and dev cycles

2. Stakeholder Coordination

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Coordinates across architects, engineers, contractors

   • Product Management: Coordinates across designers, developers, marketers

3. Tool and Standard Management

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Selects tools and sets modelling/data standards

   • Product Management: Selects tools and sets dev/process standards

4. Quality Assurance

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Ensures model accuracy, data integrity, and QA

   • Product Management: Ensures product quality, usability, and testing outcomes

5. Information Flow

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Facilitates information exchange across disciplines and project stages

   • Product Management: Ensures smooth communication and translates customer needs into product features

6. Strategic Planning

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Aligns execution plans with project strategy and goals

   • Product Management: Creates product strategies and roadmaps aligned with business objectives

7. Problem Solving

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Troubleshoots coordination and process challenges

   • Product Management: Navigates product conflicts and cross-team blockers

8. Not Direct Creators

   • Digital Engineering / BIM: Doesn’t model directly but enables modellers

   • Product Management: Doesn’t code directly but enables coders

Both roles act as integrators. We don’t build the asset—we ensure it gets built well. We don’t click the mouse—we set the system in motion.

Why This Matters

Many Digital Engineers still operate like tech support—reactive, tool-focused, and measured by compliance. But Product Managers don’t manage tools. They manage value. And that’s exactly where DE needs to go.

When I led DE at Mirvac, WeWork, and now Transport for NSW, I found myself applying product principles:

• Building internal tools (like BCapp) based on user pain points, not policy

• Treating DE rollouts like product launches, not checklists

• Using feedback loops to iterate, not lock-in

• Driving strategy from outcomes, not just systems

It worked. Teams engaged faster. Executives understood value sooner. DE became part of delivery, not just documentation.

Where This Could Take Us

If we think more like product managers, maybe we’ll finally:

• Set clear roadmaps for digital maturity

• Apply agile sprints to improve coordination practices

• Use user research to understand what modellers, site teams, and project managers actually need

• Focus less on “are we using BIM” and more on “is it solving problems?”

In short: we stop managing tools—and start leading outcomes.

A Shift in Identity

Digital Engineers are more than custodians of process.

We’re central nodes in the delivery system—driving clarity, reducing waste, and enabling smarter decisions across the board.

So maybe it’s time we stopped chasing standards and started delivering strategy. Maybe it’s time we thought more like product managers.

Not just.. 

How do we deliver this model? 

But.. 

How do we deliver value with it?