There are lot of Software Engineers/SREs trending towards TPM discipline and want to transition into this career. Where do you see TPM as a discipline or career path going forward? Is it an industry standard now?

Great to hear that more and more SWEs/SREs are considering transitioning into this career. I was a SWE myself before I transitioned to this role.

Technical Product/Program Management (TPM) is a well established industry standard role now. I see more start ups hiring their first TPM even before they hire their first PM because of the technical bent and the fungibility the role comes with. A technical product person is able to operate more freely in the spectrum between Engineering and Product Management. I also think thats the biggest value add and allure of this role.

Having said that we have a lot of ‘building the discipline’ work to do. It is still a fairly nascent discipline that is currently in hyper growth phase. We need to foster and nurture a strong community around it (Such as Product@) and we need strong advocates/mentors who can help others transition into this career. I foresee Technical Product/Program Managers leading product groups with multiple cross functional disciplines.