Technical Program Manager
When to Use
- Coordinate a multi-team technical initiative with shared milestones
- Map dependencies, critical path, and integration points
- Maintain RAID log (risks, actions, issues, decisions)
- Run launch readiness or go/no-go reviews
- Produce weekly program status for leadership or steering committee
- Resolve cross-team blockers without owning the technical design
When NOT to Use
- Write BRDs, user stories, or process maps →
business-analyst
- Choose canary vs blue-green or write cutover runbooks →
deployment-strategist
- Implement pipelines, GitOps, or on-call →
devops
- Own data platform roadmap or data governance →
data-manager
- Author service RFCs or code →
senior-software-engineer, fullstack-software-engineer
- Platform product roadmap for IDP →
platform-engineer
- Architecture decisions, ADRs, design review →
senior-system-architecture
- Strategy, business case, operating model →
business-consultant
- Technical discovery, solution architecture, RFP response authoring →
solutions-architect
Related skills
| Need |
Skill |
| Release strategy and rollback design |
deployment-strategist |
| Pipeline and environment operations |
devops |
| Requirements and business cases |
business-analyst |
| UX scope and design handoff |
product-designer |
| Engineering design and RFCs |
senior-software-engineer |
| Data program roadmaps |
data-manager |
| Security/compliance program gates |
compliance-engineer, cybersecurity |
| System architecture and ADRs |
senior-system-architecture |
| Strategy and business case |
business-consultant |
| Incident ops: SEV, on-call, postmortems |
incident-management-engineer |
| Board resolutions, entity, corporate closing |
corporate-counsel |
| Launch and stakeholder messaging |
communication-lead |
| Developer training program rollout |
developer-education-lead |
| Exec/VIP and community customer escalations |
community-executive-escalations-program-manager |
| Data center design and facility execution |
data-center-design-execution-lead |
| Multi-site DC portfolio planning and steering |
data-center-portfolio-planning-execution-lead |
| M&A diligence, signing, closing coordination |
transaction-manager |
| Coordinated vulnerability disclosure program |
technical-program-manager-security-cvd |
| Customer solution design and delivery handoff package |
solutions-architect |
Core Workflows
1. Program charter
Define before execution:
- Objective and measurable outcomes (not output lists)
- Scope: teams, systems, in/out
- Timeline: phases, hard dates, external dependencies
- Roles: DRI per workstream, escalation path
- Success metrics and definition of done
See references/program_charter.md for charter template.
2. Work breakdown and dependencies
- Decompose into workstreams (each with one DRI)
- List deliverables per workstream with dates
- Build dependency graph (finish-to-start; flag circular deps)
- Identify critical path and buffer on that path only
- Mark integration milestones (API freeze, env parity, dress rehearsal)
See references/dependency_risk.md for dependency types and RAID format.
3. Operating rhythm
| Cadence |
Audience |
Purpose |
| Weekly |
Workstream DRIs |
Blockers, date slips, dependency asks |
| Biweekly |
Sponsors / leads |
Scope, risk, decision needs |
| Pre-launch |
Launch council |
Readiness checklist |
- One source of truth for status (doc or tracker—not duplicate spreadsheets)
- Decisions logged with owner and date; no re-litigating closed calls
See references/status_reporting.md for status template.
4. Risk and issue management
- Risk: may happen → mitigation + trigger
- Issue: happened → owner + ETA + comms plan
- Escalate when: critical path slip > agreed threshold, scope creep without sponsor, unresolved cross-team conflict
See references/dependency_risk.md for RAID columns.
5. Stakeholder communication
- Status: RAG per workstream, changes since last week, asks
- No technical deep dives in exec updates—link appendix
- Align messaging before external comms (customers, support, legal)
See references/stakeholder_comms.md for audience-specific formats.
6. Launch readiness
Gate checklist before production:
See references/launch_readiness.md for full checklist.
When to load references
- Charter and phases →
references/program_charter.md
- Dependencies and RAID →
references/dependency_risk.md
- Status and steering →
references/status_reporting.md
- Exec and sponsor comms →
references/stakeholder_comms.md
- Go/no-go →
references/launch_readiness.md
1---2name: technical-program-manager3description: Guides technical program management—multi-team initiatives with dependencies, milestones, RAID tracking, launch readiness, stakeholder status, and cross-functional coordination across engineering, product, and infrastructure (not application code or BRDs). Use when running a technical program, dependency maps, milestones, exec status, or unblocking cross-team delivery—not for requirements (business-analyst), rollout (deployment-strategist), CI/CD (devops), data roadmaps (data-manager), or single-team delivery (fullstack-software-engineer). Incidents: incident-management-engineer. Architecture: senior-system-architecture. Strategy: business-consultant. Comms: communication-lead. DC site build: data-center-design-execution-lead. DC portfolio: data-center-portfolio-planning-execution-lead. M&A/financing deal execution and closing matrix: transaction-manager. Exec/VIP and community customer escalations: community-executive-escalations-program-manager. CVD/disclosure: technical-program-manager-security-cvd.4---56# Technical Program Manager78## When to Use910- Coordinate a multi-team technical initiative with shared milestones11- Map dependencies, critical path, and integration points12- Maintain RAID log (risks, actions, issues, decisions)13- Run launch readiness or go/no-go reviews14- Produce weekly program status for leadership or steering committee15- Resolve cross-team blockers without owning the technical design1617## When NOT to Use1819- Write BRDs, user stories, or process maps → `business-analyst`20- Choose canary vs blue-green or write cutover runbooks → `deployment-strategist`21- Implement pipelines, GitOps, or on-call → `devops`22- Own data platform roadmap or data governance → `data-manager`23- Author service RFCs or code → `senior-software-engineer`, `fullstack-software-engineer`24- Platform product roadmap for IDP → `platform-engineer`25- Architecture decisions, ADRs, design review → `senior-system-architecture`26- Strategy, business case, operating model → `business-consultant`27- Technical discovery, solution architecture, RFP response authoring → `solutions-architect`2829## Related skills3031| Need | Skill |32|---|---|33| Release strategy and rollback design | `deployment-strategist` |34| Pipeline and environment operations | `devops` |35| Requirements and business cases | `business-analyst` |36| UX scope and design handoff | `product-designer` |37| Engineering design and RFCs | `senior-software-engineer` |38| Data program roadmaps | `data-manager` |39| Security/compliance program gates | `compliance-engineer`, `cybersecurity` |40| System architecture and ADRs | `senior-system-architecture` |41| Strategy and business case | `business-consultant` |42| Incident ops: SEV, on-call, postmortems | `incident-management-engineer` |43| Board resolutions, entity, corporate closing | `corporate-counsel` |44| Launch and stakeholder messaging | `communication-lead` |45| Developer training program rollout | `developer-education-lead` |46| Exec/VIP and community customer escalations | `community-executive-escalations-program-manager` |47| Data center design and facility execution | `data-center-design-execution-lead` |48| Multi-site DC portfolio planning and steering | `data-center-portfolio-planning-execution-lead` |49| M&A diligence, signing, closing coordination | `transaction-manager` |50| Coordinated vulnerability disclosure program | `technical-program-manager-security-cvd` |51| Customer solution design and delivery handoff package | `solutions-architect` |5253## Core Workflows5455### 1. Program charter5657Define before execution:5859- Objective and measurable outcomes (not output lists)60- Scope: teams, systems, in/out61- Timeline: phases, hard dates, external dependencies62- Roles: DRI per workstream, escalation path63- Success metrics and definition of done6465**See `references/program_charter.md` for charter template.**6667### 2. Work breakdown and dependencies68691. Decompose into workstreams (each with one DRI)702. List deliverables per workstream with dates713. Build dependency graph (finish-to-start; flag circular deps)724. Identify critical path and buffer on that path only735. Mark integration milestones (API freeze, env parity, dress rehearsal)7475**See `references/dependency_risk.md` for dependency types and RAID format.**7677### 3. Operating rhythm7879| Cadence | Audience | Purpose |80|---|---|---|81| Weekly | Workstream DRIs | Blockers, date slips, dependency asks |82| Biweekly | Sponsors / leads | Scope, risk, decision needs |83| Pre-launch | Launch council | Readiness checklist |8485- One source of truth for status (doc or tracker—not duplicate spreadsheets)86- Decisions logged with owner and date; no re-litigating closed calls8788**See `references/status_reporting.md` for status template.**8990### 4. Risk and issue management9192- **Risk**: may happen → mitigation + trigger93- **Issue**: happened → owner + ETA + comms plan94- Escalate when: critical path slip > agreed threshold, scope creep without sponsor, unresolved cross-team conflict9596**See `references/dependency_risk.md` for RAID columns.**9798### 5. Stakeholder communication99100- Status: RAG per workstream, changes since last week, asks101- No technical deep dives in exec updates—link appendix102- Align messaging before external comms (customers, support, legal)103104**See `references/stakeholder_comms.md` for audience-specific formats.**105106### 6. Launch readiness107108Gate checklist before production:109110- [ ] All critical-path items complete or explicitly waived by sponsor111- [ ] Rollback/runbook owned (`deployment-strategist` + `devops`)112- [ ] Monitoring and on-call briefed113- [ ] Support/docs updated114- [ ] Go/no-go with named approvers115116**See `references/launch_readiness.md` for full checklist.**117118## When to load references119120- **Charter and phases** → `references/program_charter.md`121- **Dependencies and RAID** → `references/dependency_risk.md`122- **Status and steering** → `references/status_reporting.md`123- **Exec and sponsor comms** → `references/stakeholder_comms.md`124- **Go/no-go** → `references/launch_readiness.md`
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