Ask HN: Moving from tech leader to operations/product management?

My careers is taking an interesting turn. I am the most senior tech manager (Director of Technology) at the company I work with and one of the more skilled hackers. However I've had an interest in how companies get things done. I've recently been put in a position to work on the company's overall process for working projects and building products and to effectively product management a couple of those products. It makes sense since I have some human skills and know the company inside and out. My questions, is this wise? Is someone without an MBA going to make it far down the road to Director of Operations/COO? Have you ever been in a similar situation and what did you do?