Technical Program Manager's Handbook: Empowering managers to efficiently manage technical projects and build a successful career path

✍ Scribed by Joshua Alan Teter

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 215
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Explore the different aspects of the technical program manager's role in the tech world and get ready to advance your career across the Big Five tech companies

Key Features

• Uncover the secret to becoming a successful technical program manager
• Learn some of the system design principles and architectural concepts necessary for a TPM
• Get up and running with a wide range of foundational program management topics

Book Description

The technical program manager (TPM) is a relatively new role born out of the need of the tech industry to have a specialized practitioner who speaks both tech and business and leverages this bilingual talent to get results that no one else can.

This book dives into what makes a TPM tick. You'll find out which project and program management skills will help you shine and how you can apply your technical skills for effective results. This book looks at the TPM role across the Big Five tech companies (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Meta) to help you discern the most effective skills to be successful no matter which company you work for.

Are you already a well-performing TPM looking to see what's next? This book identifies the career paths for a TPM at the Big Five to help you decide the next step for you.

By the end of this book, you'll have a clear understanding of how to be a TPM, along with a breakdown of the necessary technical and program management skills to develop a clear roadmap for your career.

What you will learn

• Investigate why a TPM is an important role in the tech industry
• Understand the purpose and uniqueness of the TPM role
• Discover what makes a successful TPM
• Navigate project management with your unique technical skills
• Explorer the career opportunities available for a TPM
• Compare the TPM role and responsibilities across the Big Five tech leaders

Who this book is for

This TPM book is for aspiring and established technical program managers in the tech industry. To get the most out of this book, you should have a basic understanding of the project management life cycle and be comfortable with technical concepts as we dive into basic system design and architecture landscapes in context to the TPM role and expectations.

Table of Contents

1. Product Information Document
2. Fundamentals of a Technical Program Manager
3. Pillars of a Technical Program Manager
4. Introduction to Program Management
5. Driving Towards Clarity
6. Plan Management
7. Risk Management
8. Stakeholder Management
9. Managing a Program
10. Career Paths
11. Introduction to the Technical Toolset
12. Code Development and System Design Expectations
13. System Design and Architecture Landscape
14. Enhancing Management Using Your Technical Toolset

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Foreword
Contributors
About the reviewers
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: Pillars of a Technical Program Manager
Chapter 1: Fundamentals of a Technical Program Manager
Understanding the modern TPM
Old title, new meaning
Learning the fundamentals
The Systems Development Life Cycle
Exploring what makes a TPM thrive
Driving to get things done
Driving towards clarity
Communication bridges
Comparing adjacent job families
Wearing many hats
Exploring functional competencies across the industry
Insights into the TPM life from interviews
A quick look into the main TPM career levels
Summary
Chapter 2: Pillars of a Technical Program Manager
Understanding project management
Exploring the typical project management tactics
Diving into program management
What is a program?
Typical program management tactics
Exploring the technical toolset
Discovering the effectiveness of your technical toolset
Summary
Part 2: Fundamentals of Program Management
Chapter 3: Introduction to Program Management
Introducing the Mercury program
Mercury program scope
Mercury project structure
Examining the program-project intersection
Exploring the management areas
Project plan
Project and program risks
Stakeholder plan
Summary
Chapter 4: Driving Toward Clarity
Clarifying thoughts into plans
Using clarity in key management areas
Planning
Risk assessment
Stakeholders and communication
Finding clarity in the technical landscape
Summary
Chapter 5: Plan Management
Driving clarity from requirements to planned work
Project management tools
Diving deep into the project plan
When planning has to be quick
Defining milestones and the feature list of a plan
Planning resources in a technology landscape
Prioritization
Team overhead
Tooling for resource planning
When planning has to be quick
Exploring the differences between a project and a program
Tooling
Planning
Knowing when to define a program
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 6: Risk Management
Driving clarity in risk assessment
Risk identification
Risk analysis
Updating the plan
Risk tracking
Documenting the progress
Tools and methodologies
When risk assessment needs to be quick
Managing risks in a technology landscape
Technical risks in the Mercury program
Exploring the differences between a project and a program
Assessment
Summary
Chapter 7: Stakeholder Management
Driving clarity in stakeholder management
Stand-up
Status update
Monthly business review (MBR)
Quarterly business review (QBR)
Communication timing
Defining your stakeholders
Exploring the dos and don’ts for status reports
Managing stakeholders in a technology landscape
Communication systems
Tooling
Technical versus non-technical stakeholders
Exploring the differences between a project and a program
Scheduling for natural accountability
Leadership syncs
Summary
Chapter 8: Managing a Program
Driving clarity at the program level
Defining boundaries
Deciding when to build a program
Building from the start
Constructing a program mid-execution
Tracking a program
Program planning
Risk management
Stakeholder management
Summary
Chapter 9: Career Paths
Examining the career paths of a TPM
The path to becoming a TPM
The paths of a TPM
Exploring the IC path
Exploring the people manager path
Summary
Part 3: Technical Toolset
Chapter 10: The Technical Toolset
Examining the need for a technical background
TPM specializations
Technical proficiencies used daily
Using your technical toolset to wear many hats
Defining the technical toolset
Code proficiency
System design
Architecture landscape
Summary
Chapter 11: Code Development Expectations
Understanding code development expectations
No code writing required!
Exploring programming language basics
Diving into data structures
Space and time complexities
Data structures
Learning design patterns
Creational design patterns
Structural design patterns
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 12: System Design and Architecture Landscape
Learning about common system design patterns
Model-View-Presenter
Object-oriented architecture
Domain-driven design architecture
Event-driven architecture
P2P architecture
Service-oriented architecture
Client-server architecture
Design considerations
Seeing the forest and the trees
Examining an architecture landscape
Summary
Further reading
Chapter 13: Enhancing Management Using Your Technical Toolset
Driving toward clarity
Planning
Risk management
Stakeholder management and communications
Resolving conflicts
Planning
Risk management
Stakeholder management and communication
Delivering through leadership
Summary
Index
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