In General you will need following to be a Technical Program Manager:
- Technical Competency
- Knowledge of Agile methodologies
- Past Experience in Handling & Leading Development Teams
- Better Estimates
- Add Value to Other Parts of the Program
- Be the Link Between Development and the Business
Participants will be able to:
- Create and maintain a program plan with tasks and estimates
- Communicate with both IT and business stakeholders
- Risk management and escalation
- Manage scope
- What is TPM ?
- Career Path
- Work Responsible for
- Challenges
What is a TPM?
TPM stands for “technical program manager” a team that manages the coordination of business decisions and leads design through the implementation of the infrastructure.
Career Path
- Technical Program Manager
- Technical Program Manager II
- Technical Program Manager III
- Principal Technical Program Manager
- Sr. Principal Technical Program Manager
Technical Program Manager (TPM) is Responsible for:
- Enabling the team to launch various features
- Leads the sprints, gathers requirements from the product managers
- Sets up architectural reviews with teams consuming the service
- Helps out in on-call and escalation
Types of Technical Program Managers
- Front End
- Backend
- Integration
- Business Intelligence
- ERP
- Localization
- Hardware
- Data Center
- Process
- Security
- Cloud TPM
- UI/UX
Perhaps the biggest advantage to being a technical program manager is having the ability to fill the communication gap between the development team and the business team.
This can manifest itself in many ways:
- Describing how individual development components relate to the big picture for an organization
- Ensuring the business team understands why certain technical decisions were made along with the benefits and trade-offs
- Explaining to the business why a requirement may not be technologically feasible but here are some alternatives
What Now?
So now you’re convinced that you should become a Technical Program Manager, but how?
- Take time to understand the programs around you.
- Learn to code on your own.
- Build something on your own.
Challenges
- Lack of loyalty in employees and corporate bosses.
- Evolution of Technology.
- Globalism in HR.
- Self Image and Proper Restraint.
- Technical Program Managers are only skilled in program management
- Technical Program Managers just create reports/Gantt charts
- There's no role for Technical Program Managers in Agile context
- Technical Program Manager roles are the same across the organization
Try to manage or lead a program in your current organization or your team.
- Are you able to manage or lead the program?
- Can you deliver the program on time?
- Can you plan for problems and potential conflicts?
- TPM wiki - Use it as a reference.
- TPM with Elaine Lee