Retrospecting A Life Of A Technical Program Manager
Post # 62 - I sat down with Luca Rossi of Refactoring to dive into the Life of a Technical Program Manager. We talk about everything from planning to agile to career advice.
Awhile back I wrote a collaboration piece with Luca Rossi of Refactoring: What is a Technical Program Manager.
A week ago, I sat down with Luca to dig deeper into my journey, my experiences, and the many lessons I have learned along the way on planning and driving large complex software development programs at Blackberry, Apple, Google, Nike.
Jump points:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:00 What is a TPM?
00:05:00 Silos and coordination between teams
00:11:00 Minimum viable planning
00:18:00 Agile vs Waterafall
00:21:00 Software estimates & defining targets
00:35:00 The role of a TPM in a company
00:52:00 Advice for aspiring TPMs
I hope you enjoy this conversation because I know I did. Luca is a phenomenal tech leadership writer and his questions were as expected, thought provoking.
Until next time 👋!
-Aadil
📅 Becoming A Great Technical Program Manager (1-day seminar coming soon)
Over the past few months, I have been taking the time to chat with many of you over email or zoom. Many of my readers are either playing the TPM role or are seeking knowledge to help them level up their TPM skills. Some are curious about this unique role and what it takes to jump into this career.
I have been wondering if I can do something that will help you become a great TPM or take your TPM skills to the next level. Then, an idea hit me…
I am considering offering an intensive day long seminar on “Becoming A Great Technical Program Manager”.
Who is this course for?
This is ideally for people already in the TPM role (all levels of experience) looking to take their career to the next level.
This is also a great opportunity for Engineering Leaders, Product Managers, and many more who want to level up their technical program management skill sets to become a well rounded leader.
What will you teach?
Goal for the seminar is to share everything I know on how to go from good to great:
Learn from hard-earned lessons and mistakes I made.
Leverage true-and-tried frameworks that I use everyday.
Real world tested strategies that will make you stand out as a TPM.
The course will be split into 4 parts:
🚀 Before — everything to do to make sure you program kick off is a success.
⚙️ During — how to be an effective TPM when a program is going through development.
✅ After — you did it; you successful shipped a product. learn everything you need to do before the next program kicks off.
🧐 Everything In Between — the stuff that no one talks about how to cope with the pressure of being a leader without authority, mental models that will help you be great, wisdom from legendary TPMs I worked with at Apple, Google, Nike, Blackberry.
Additional course details I am currently exploring
Schedule → May 2023
Date & Time → Weekend (either Saturday or Sunday)
Time Commitment → 4 hours PST (not finalized hoping to find a good balance for EST and CET and Europe friendly timing). I highly recommend that you consider clearing your calendar to make this experience be effective.
Pricing → $500 (Not Finalized Yet) //
💰 Best Part → You can potentially get reimbursed for the course fee through your employer.
Class Size → I will limit this to just 10 people for this 1st cohort to ensure a lively and amazing experience.
Location → Live over Zoom
Platform → Maven
If you are interested in attending this course, please click on the button below to show your interest. 🙇 🙏
If you know someone who might be interested in attending this course, please share this post with them. 🙇 🙏
How was this week’s newsletter?