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

Length: 214 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Publication Date: 2022-12-16
ISBN-10: 180461355X
ISBN-13: 9781804613559
Sales Rank: #75963 (See Top 100 Books)

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.

Technical Program Manager’s Handbook
Foreword
Contributors
About the author
About the reviewers
Preface
    Who this book is for
    What this book covers
    Download the color images
    Conventions used
    Get in touch
    Share Your Thoughts
    Download a free PDF copy of this book
Part 1: What is 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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