E-Book, Englisch, 368 Seiten
Teter Technical Program Manager's Handbook
2. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-83620-046-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
Unlock your TPM potential by leading technical projects successfully and elevating your career path
E-Book, Englisch, 368 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-83620-046-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
The role of the Technical Program Manager (TPM) is crucial in the tech industry, bridging the gap between technical expertise and business acumen. The second edition of the Technical Program Manager's Handbook offers a comprehensive guide to excelling in this role. Building on the foundational concepts from the first edition, this updated version introduces new chapters that explore the integration of AI and Emotional Intelligence (EI) in program management. These crucial additions complement the broader focus of the book on bridging business and technology but don't overshadow it. You'll learn how to apply AI-driven tools to enhance project planning, risk management, and stakeholder communication, as well as how to leverage EI to build strong team relationships and improve leadership effectiveness.
This book provides practical tools, methodologies, and case studies, offering insights from industry leaders to help both aspiring and practicing TPMs apply advanced concepts and strategies effectively. It also explores the unique aspects of the TPM role in major tech companies, helping you to navigate and thrive in your career.
By the end of this book, you'll have a clear understanding of the TPM role, along with a breakdown of the necessary technical and program management skills, to develop a clear roadmap for your career.
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Preface
The role of a Technical Program Manager (TPM) has been around inside and outside of the tech industry for quite a while; yet somehow there is still quite a sense of mystery around what the role is and why it is beneficial, let alone how someone can succeed in being a TPM. This book looks to solve that mystery by diving into what it means to be a TPM, where the role came from, and where it is headed. You’ll get a look into how the TPM works and develops their career in the “Big 5” – Amazon, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft. Though I focus on these companies, in my interviews and subsequent experience running the industry-wide TPM Summit, these concepts are common across an ever-growing group of companies.
I’ve been at Amazon for a little over 11 years now and I remember back to when I was first interviewed, I had a hard time remembering what the term TPM even stood for, let alone what the role entailed. In my onsite interviews, I asked what the job role was and what the day-to-day was like. Eleven years later and I’m asked those same questions by interviewees at least once a week. I attend conferences discussing what it means to be a TPM and have written papers on what it means to be a TPM within my own organization because, as you’ll see in this book, it depends on where you are as to what the role entails.
No matter what, there are foundational principles that are followed across the industry that will set you on the right path and help you when you get stuck in a rut without a way forward.
A lot has happened between the first and second edition of this book. The first edition launched me into the world of TPM leadership in various LinkedIn communities and sparked the creation of a non-profit organization, TPM Events, to foster community, learning, networking, and ultimately a unified understanding of the TPM role across the tech industry. When I started the non-profit with my co-founders Zhanat Abylkassym and Josie Gillan in 2023, we set out to run a single conference. After the first TPM Summit in October of 2023, we kept going and expanded into local chapters to facilitate growth and learning in between the now-annual TPM Summit. We spun off a podcast, TPM Ridge, and have many other ideas in the works.
In the wider world, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has blossomed into a driving force of change. Our job descriptions are changing, new roles are forming, and everyone is looking to what the future will have in store for them. I believe that GenAI will necessarily change what we do by taking the easily repeatable and generative portions of our jobs and forcing TPMs to become prompt-engineering experts. To balance this out, I believe TPMs will need to lean hard on our emotional intelligence skills to remain relevant in the coming decade. GenAI won’t replace our ability to form relationships with our stakeholders and use empathy to drive the change we need.
Hopefully the introduction of these two new topics will balance out your growth as we move into this new reality.
Let’s get you ready to be a successful TPM!
Who this book is for
This book is meant for TPMs at every stage of their career, including those that are considering transitioning into the role. To get the most out of this book, there is an expectation that you will have some basic knowledge of project management. I tend to lean into the Project Management Professional (PMP) lingo and style but the book does not follow a specific methodology, as I don’t believe a single methodology can be adequately applied to this role! While I will cover many topics that are familiar in certification courses like PMP, I will not cover those topics with sufficient depth to certify as that is not my goal. That means some topics that I feel are hyper-specific to the PMP-style of management, but not seen by an average TPM, I won’t cover.
The book will cover some basic programming topics, although very little code is used except for illustrative purposes in , . Most concepts are explored using figures and text, as that fits the audience of the book the best.
To read the book, there’s no expectation of a specific technical proficiency, although as you will discover in of the book, there is an expectation that you’ll have that if you want to be a TPM. This book will guide you through the technical skills that are prerequisites for most TPMs.
What this book covers
, , is an introduction to what a TPM is and where the role originated.
, , sets out the three pillars of a TPM: project management, program management, and the technical toolset.
, , examines the career paths available for a TPM using interviews and job data from across the ‘Big 5’ tech companies.
, , covers the key management areas that will be covered throughout the book: plan management, risk management, and stakeholder management. It also introduces a case study that will be used for all examples throughout the book.
, , elaborates on the recurring trait that defines everything a TPM does: being clarity-driven.
, , dives deeper into the plan management best practices and goes over scenarios that are common in the tech industry.
, , explores the risk management best practices and goes over scenarios that are common in the tech industry.
, , discusses the stakeholder management best practices and goes over scenarios that are common in the tech industry.
, , explains the differences between managing a program and a project and how program management builds on top of project management.
discusses the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) in the TPM profession, along with how do determine your EQ and foster its growth.
, , is all about the three fundamental tools in a TPM’s technical toolset: programming fundamentals, system design, and architectural design.
, , is an outline of the programming fundamentals that a TPM is expected to understand and draw upon.
, , clarifies the system and architectural design patterns and principles that are useful to a TPM.
dives into the technical foundations of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and how to utilize GenAI tools throughout your day-to-day role.
, , covers the technical toolset and dives deeper into how and where in a TPM’s day-to-day work it can be used to enhance their career.
To get the most out of this book
This book assumes you have a basic understanding of project management concepts. Any word that is specific to management or a technical background is explained, so no specific methodology is required, such as Project Management Professional terminology, or phase cycles.
From a technical perspective, an introductory programming course is enough to get value from the technical explanations in the code, system design, and architecture chapters.
Project and program templates
This book comes with templates of the various project and program artifacts that are discussed in the book, they are available on GitHub. Each chapter that has related templates will mention this under the .
For each template, instructions or guidance for each will be added in a review comment attached to the title at the top of the document or in the first cell of a spreadsheet. Each project or program is unique so you are encouraged to use the templates as a starting point but to add, subtract, or simply move around the elements based on the needs of the project and your stakeholders.
Find them here: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Technical-Program-Manager-s-Handbook-2E
Download the color images
We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/gbp/9781836200475.
Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. For example: “You are stating which data you need in the clause.”
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see on the screen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. For example: “In this chapter, we’ll look into the paths you may take to become a...
