Start by Being Human

The human condition is one from which we all suffer.

At the core of every consultant, product owner, program manager, engineer, data scientist, and TPM is a person. We all share equally in this condition. Well, at least most of us do anyway. Since the primary goal of a TPM is to devise solutions that solve real problems for real people, the capacity to be human is cross-cutting. There are several human attributes that one draws upon in the daily life of a TPM. These are spread across each of the hats while, at the same time, belonging to none of them. I’ve called out each of these independently below.

Empathy

Empathy allows a TPM to walk a mile in the shoes of their customers. To feel their pain and cast themselves into their lived experiences. It’s through these lived experiences that we truly understand the needs of our customers. When you see a doctor, they ask you to describe your pain. They can’t prescribe the right painkiller without understanding the pain itself. The same goes for a TPM. They must understand, no, they must feel, your pain so that they may alleviate it. I suspect no TPM would achieve even the smallest amount of success in the role without the ability to empathize.

Growth Mindset

Having a growth mindset is crucial for a technical program manager because it fosters continuous learning and adaptability in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. This mindset encourages embracing challenges, learning from failures, and persisting in the face of setbacks, which are common in complex projects. It also promotes innovation and creative problem-solving, essential for overcoming technical hurdles. Additionally, a growth mindset helps in building a collaborative and motivated team, as it inspires others to strive for improvement and excellence. Ultimately, it leads to better project outcomes and personal development, making the technical program manager more effective and resilient.

Leadership

The TPM is ultimately accountable for the success or failure of any given solution. There I said it. That same statement has been met with all kinds of friction and even out right anger in the past, but I still stand by it. Here’s why. If the TPM is responsible for understanding the customer’s pain, gathering requirements, and then turning those into customer value, then if something fails it is because the TPM failed in one of those endeavors. TPMs lead the initiative and that’s a fact. If the engineers didn’t build the right thing, then it’s because the TPM didn’t explain it correctly or ensure they did it right. If the customer doesn’t like what is delivered the TPM failed to gather the right requirements or set proper expectations. If the project went over budget, then it’s because the TPM failed to manage the financials. It is imperative that everyone, including the TPM, understand that the TPM is at the helm and must lead the team through whatever comes up on the path to success.

Coaching

Praise in public, coach in private. All TPMs coach. There’s no way around it. You’ll coach team members, salespeople, the customer, executives, etc. I’d go so far as to say the if you’re not coaching someone each week then something is going off track somewhere, you just don’t know it yet. But what is coaching? Coaching focuses on specific goals and tasks that aim to improve one's performance. Coaches provide guidance, feedback and support to help individuals enhance their skills or achieve a desired outcome. Coaching is not solving the problem for someone but helping them come to resolution through their own merits. Lastly, coaching isn’t always limited in time and scope. Many leaders coach their team members in an ongoing fashion, moving from one goal to another without pause. This leads to better results and helps employees excel in their roles.

Mentoring

So, what then is mentoring and how does it relate to coaching? To me, mentoring is a more holistic and long-term relationship where the mentor shares their knowledge, wisdom, and experience in an effort to accelerate ones efforts by helping them avoid pitfalls and see around corners. Where coaching is about helping the individual find a solution on their own mentoring is about helping them learn from your past experiences so they can get to a resolution faster. A person may coach many different people while mentoring only a few. These are often other, more junior TPMs and customer personnel who may need to carry the solutions forward once you are gone. In summary, coaching is about unlocking potential and driving performance, while mentoring involves sharing experiences and guiding personal and professional growth.

Collaboration

TPMs seldom accomplish anything on their own. This is true with most things in life. We rely on our engineers, our dev leads, our data scientists, and the multitude of people on the customer side. More often than not I find that I have to sell the solution to the very customer that hired me to develop it. That’s because the solution they need is often not the one they had originally envisioned. The requires me to collaborate across multiple resources and stakeholders, internally and externally to come up with the right solution and then pitch that idea back to the customer for approval.

At Microsoft I often have to work with the product teams to understand when a new feature that my customer is depending on may be ready. I may even have to try and convince them to pull this feature forward into a release cycle when they hadn’t planned on a launch for several months. I have to work hand in hand with our customer success organization, sales, and even marketing to ensure the best possible outcome for our customers.

Partnership

Microsoft loves its partners. I can attest to that firsthand having worked at a Microsoft gold partner for more than a decade prior to joining the mother ship as they call it. The one thing every TPM will run into at some point in their career, regardless of where you work, is a lack of resources to get the job done. This gap may be at the customer, or it may be internal to your team. Even at a company the size of Microsoft I often find I don’t have the resources and personnel to complete the project and have to go to partners to round out the team. These partners may be part of another internal team within your company, or they may be external systems integrators or technology consulting companies. Sometimes the customer will have their go-to agencies and sometimes they will lean on you to help source the extra resources. The point is you may be asked to partner with other entities who have their own agendas and motivations that may not always align with yours. They may even compete, and you need to be prepared to work through that for the good of the customer. You can compete another day but for now let’s get at it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the essence of every consultant, product owner, program manager, engineer, data scientist, and TPM is their shared humanity. This commonality is crucial, especially for TPMs whose primary goal is to create solutions for real-world problems. The ability to connect on a human level is indispensable and transcends all roles and all hats.