Pillars of a Technical Program Manager

For most of my professional career, I have been a technical program manager (TPM)—or a proxy to it. During this time, I have worked alongside other TPMs on large-scale projects, mentored junior TPMs on their journey, and interviewed a large number of TPMs from all corners of the industry. Over the years, I have gained a considerable perspective on what a TPM is and what makes them successful.

Without getting into complex sentence diagramming, let’s take a look at the job title itself, technical program manager. The title is comprised of two parts, the noun program manager and the adjective technical. From this, it’s easy to see that there are at least two foundational pillars to a TPM role: program management and the technical toolset. In my view, program management consists of two separate pillars since program management includes project management. You cannot have the skills to run a program without also having the...