TPM Activities
Breaking down various activities of a TPM.
Strategic Activities
Road-mapping – Creation and sign-off of 6-monthly/Quarterly roadmaps of programs/projects planned for the year Best Practices – Establishment of learnings, best practices, standardized frameworks and tools across programs and projects Processes – Design of repeatable & predictable processes for initiation, tracking, governance, review and delivery of programs and projects Change Agent - Transformation of traditional process and tools to agile processes and tools to ensure timely and high-quality delivery of programs/projects based on iterative, feedback-loop based development paradigms Automation - Automation of product development and deployment using modern DevSecOps processes and toolchains Kaizen - Institution of a culture of continuous improvement and data-driven decision-making
Operational Activities
Release management – the process of planning, scheduling, managing a software build through different stages and environments all the way from ideation to release Planning – Preparation of the detailed program/project plan along with the Product Manager Communication – Establishment of communication modes and cadences with various stakeholders, conducting planned and ad-hoc meetings with various stakeholders to ensure project milestones are on track and to communicate latest status to them, and sharing of meeting minutes and regular updates with various stakeholders Stakeholder management – Identification of stakeholders and their roles, keeping them updated on the progress of the project, addressing their concerns, seeking and implementing their feedback Risk management – Identification of risks and detailing of a mitigation plan to ensure that the project stays on track, or is brought back on track in the event of delays or blockers Conflict management – Identifying destructive conflicts and resolving them using various conflict resolution approaches such as compromising, smoothing, confronting and forcing Escalation – Tactfully raising issues and blockers to the right stakeholders at the right time to remove roadblocks with a view to ensuring that the project/program is put back on track Data and Metrics – Definition of various key metrics related to process, product and customer that need to be tracked to communicated to stakeholders, analyzing data using Excel, SQL, JQL, and creating reports, charts and dashboards
Deliverables
Plan – A document that details the WHY (business justification), WHAT (scope, technical resources, risks, risk mitigation plan), WHO (stakeholders & human resources), and WHEN (timeline) for a program or project. Tracker – A detailed work break-down of the project into a backlog of requirements for the entire project, and prioritized backlogs for every iteration, typically maintained in tools like Jira and Confluence. This should include dashboards, visualizations and reports to track key metrics (project metrics, customer metrics and product metrics) Communication artefacts – Preparation of documents/presentations/spreadsheets to keep the team apprised of project progress, blockers, risks and mitigations.
Stakeholders
Product – The Product Manager is the key member of who sets the vision for the product and is accountable for the success, adoption and evolution of the product. The TPM must work closely with the Product Manager on backlogs, prioritization, sprint planning, release planning, launch and post-launch activities. Engineering – Members of the engineering team who are responsible for the architecture, development, testing, deployment and release of the product. The TPM must work closely with the Engineering team on estimation, sprint planning, release planning, testing and release. Leadership – Stakeholders from the leadership and management team who are executive sponsors for the program/project. The TPM must keep the leadership team updated on the progress of projects/programs, risks and mitigation plans, and seek sponsorship and support as and when required. Business – Cross-functional stakeholders from peer teams that have inputs into or are impacted by the outcomes of the program/project, like UI/UX Design, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Operations, Legal, and Alpha & Beta Customers. The TPM must keep business teams updated on the progress of projects/programs, risks, mitigation plans, support required, launch preparedness, training plan for business teams, and planning and execution of post-launch activities.
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