The problem your firm seems to be facing is that you are mixing project management with system design/architecture.
I am a contract developer and sometimes an architect, and wholeheartedly agree. The problem with that is most companies, even large ones, think PM and architecture go hand in hand. If that's the case, then yes, a PM needs a technical background. If that's not possible, then the lead developer needs to meet with the PM, and step up and take the architecture role. In my experience, anything else leads to project failure wether that failure be in the time to deployment or in functionality of the project.
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The problem your firm seems to be facing is that you are mixing project management with system design/architecture.
I am a contract developer and sometimes an architect, and wholeheartedly agree. The problem with that is most companies, even large ones, think PM and architecture go hand in hand. If that's the case, then yes, a PM needs a technical background. If that's not possible, then the lead developer needs to meet with the PM, and step up and take the architecture role. In my experience, anything else leads to project failure wether that failure be in the time to deployment or in functionality of the project.