The TPM Library
Learning is a never-ending pursuit, a mindset which separates the successful from the not successful. Welcome to the Building Romes TPM Library.
Here I will share the list of books, articles, blogs, newsletter, podcasts and other sources of learning that every TPM should go through.
You will not find a source or link or suggestion here that I have not personally read or consumed.
This is not an amazon affiliation revenue stream but my own curation of the best knowledge out there for TPMs to learn from, grow, and become better at this art.
Most of the books can be found on Amazon or your preferred book reseller. I will add links wherever I think the content is hard to find or not easily shareable.
If you have suggestions for anything that should be on this list or for me to read, send me an email (aadilmaan at gmail) and I will add it to my reading list.
You can also find the link to the Library on the Building Romes Substack home page.
📚 Books Every TPM Should Read
The Art of Agile by James Shore
Team of Teams by Stanley McCrystal
Risk Upfront by Adam Josephs
Get on Track by Paula Dieli
The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim
Shape Up by Basecamp
Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks (this is the olden golden of sw project management and development leadership; my TPM bible)
Nudge by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't by Simon Sink
The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
The Polaris System Development by Harvey M. Sapolsky — the genesis of the PERT chart. There is a lot of supremely relevant and historical context on how the more famous tools in Project Management came to be. I am a student of history and sometimes to find a path forward, we need to look back at where we have come from.
Pivot to Program Management by Jean Kang - This is by far the best quickstart guide out there for breaking into Program Management. Jean shares her experience and very actionable career pivot advice on LinkedIn. She also runs cohort course for aspiring Program Managers to make the transition; its worth checking out.
📨 Newsletters Every TPM Should Subscribe To (Off-Substack Edition)
The Minimum Viable Project by Jasper Polak — a newsletter about practical project management for SMBs. Discover a new skill, tool, or framework every Tuesday and learn to manage profitable projects!
Martin Fowler’s Blog - is well renowned software developer, prolific writer on software development, and one of the creators of the Agile Manifesto. His writing and work at Thoughtworks, as Chief Scientist, is read by many engineers I work with and I love his content on Technical Project Management.
Irrational Exuberance by Will Larson (aka Lethian) — great engineering and general engineering management blog by the writer of a fabulous book on Systems of Engineering Management published by Stripe Press as well as a book on Staff Engineer.
The Systems Thinker - Whether policy, politics, world systems or technology, systems thinking is the most important world view or lens to look at the world through.
📑 Articles Every TPM Should Read Once
Agile in Large Complex Organizations by Chris Combe (he / him)
Managing The Development of Large Software Systems by Dr Winston W. Rovce
Waterfall Process by Martin Fowler
How Apple is Organized For Innovation by Joel M. Podolny and Morten T. Hansen — a great insider view of how Apple leverages hyper accountability and the DRI framework to put experts in charge of decision making.
Entropy Crushers by Rands — one of the best and most succinct explanations of when and why you need technical project managers.
Reaching Peak Meeting Efficiency: Meetings are a critical tool for building a diverse, high-performance team with shared by Steven Sinofsky
6 Principles of Building a World Class TPM Team by Sophia Vicent (Uber’s first TPM)
See my Recommendations page for newsletters every TPM should subscribe (On-Substack Edition)