Technical Program Manager's Handbook

Technical Program Manager's Handbook

by Joshua Alan Teter
Released December 2022
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781804613559

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Book description

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

Product information

  • Title: Technical Program Manager's Handbook
  • Author(s): Joshua Alan Teter
  • Release date: December 2022
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781804613559