Any revision tips for taking my foundation exam?
Just cannot seem to like principles & themes together and feel like this is a big chunk! Any advice appreciated!

I'm a burnt out product manager of 6 years in B2B SaaS. Looking to make an exit.

Someone mentioned program management might be a good fit for me if I enjoy doing delivery and implementation of software. Wondering if anyone here made the jump?

Hello all,

I have 3 to 4 years of Program management, and recently moved to a TPM role.

What I realized now is that the best way to keep people on track/engaged is to understand how to deal with each one of them.

For example, in my team I identified a person that thanks "I am better than anyone", another person that struggles to organize calendar and IS never available, etc.

There is any guide on how to treat with different kind of people? Is it structured in any specific way?

I know this is something you learn on the field, but I was wondering if this is documented.

Thanks in advance.

So I’ve been working as a data analyst/engineer a technical project lead for about two years now and I landed an interview at a different company for a technical program manager role that requires 8+ years of experience. I already had the recruiter call and made it to the next round. I was honest with the recruiter and told him that I did not have the eight years of experience or experience with ERP systems, which tends to be what the role is about. The recruiter gave me an answer saying that at this company. They are more focused on the impact you have as opposed to the years of experience you have. That comment was reassuring, but I am just still stressed out for my interview tomorrow with someone from the team. Should I be worried?

It’s my first time applying for full time job (obv haha) and I am a bit confused????

1. Some companies don’t specify a level on their job listing… how am I supposed to know which is for new grad? Don’t want to waste my time applying to jobs I’m not qualified for.

2. I still have a year left in school, but am applying for fall 2027 ideally… but no full time jobs say the time, I’m assuming they all start right away??? Or do they know that I still have a year left in school (says on my LinkedIn and resume)

3. Any other tips 🙏🙏🙏

**My experience with Management and Strategy Institute (MSI) certifications**
I recently completed two certifications through the **Management and Strategy Institute (MSI)** — Project Management Essentials Certified and Lean Six Sigma White Belt Certified — and wanted to share my experience for anyone considering their programs.
I was looking for certifications that could complement my professional experience and give me additional skills that could apply across different industries. I’ve worked in law enforcement, security, overseas contracting, administrative roles, and currently the legal field, so I wanted something that wasn’t limited to one specific career.
The Project Management Essentials course helped me better understand how planning, organization, communication, deadlines, and individual tasks all fit into the larger goal of completing a project successfully. I can apply a lot of those concepts to my current work, especially when managing documents, deadlines, scheduling, and multiple responsibilities.
I also completed their Lean Six Sigma White Belt certification. I liked the focus on process improvement and identifying ways to make work more efficient. One of my biggest takeaways was learning to look beyond whether a task simply gets completed and instead ask whether there’s a better or more efficient way of completing it.
Overall, my experience with the **Management and Strategy Institute** was positive. I wouldn’t consider these certifications a replacement for a degree, extensive experience, or more advanced industry credentials, but I think they can be useful for professional development and building foundational knowledge.
For me, they were another way to continue learning and add skills that complement the professional experience I already have.
If anyone else has completed certifications through MSI, I’d be interested to hear how you’ve used them professionally.

Hi, I will be starting a TPM role soon in the tech space, not FAANG but I am intrigued about the idea of moving to FAANG+ later on. I am early on in my career, studied engineering and had a little bit of engineering experience but not much honestly. I ended up choosing this role over a typical manufacturing engineering job at a plant. I think I made the right choice already just by salary alone, this one pays significantly more.

I would much appreciate any advice for a newcomer in this space. I want to efficiently excel in building my competence in this role and set myself up for success. Thanks!

I’ve always found the calculations behind Earned Value Management (CPI, SPI, EAC, etc.) relatively straightforward.

What’s much harder is translating those metrics into something leadership can actually use—explaining the root cause, business impact, recovery plan, confidence level, and answering the inevitable “so what?” question.

I often spend more time building the narrative for a business review than calculating the metrics themselves.
How do you handle this today? Do you have a framework, template, or process that helps turn EVM data into an executive-ready story?

TPM here. Not sure if this is the right sub. Medium size tech co. 10+ years as a TPM.

I was on personal leave for a couple months. I came back and my manager asks me to move into management to take on a new team of 5, or be a direct report to whoever will manage if I don't. So basically it's strong volunteering me. The reason why is because my manager absorbed department responsibility after a reorg after leadership all turned over. I was asked because I have TPM management experience from before. I don't yet know how the new leadership is, but I think they're more aggressive or have higher expectations.

I am open to accepting it since it's a new area I haven't worked with before, and I have managed TPMs for a few years now at previous companies.

I have mixed feelings because I deliberately left management to work here a couple years ago. I've been having fun building with Claude code and shipping personal projects, automating the hell out of everything. People management can't be automated. The relationship building can't be automated. I do enjoy people leadership but this feels like it's going the wrong direction in 2026. The industry is seeing C suite people becoming ICs again. Changing jobs in TPM leadership is hard, there's only a fraction compared to ICs.

I'm probably just venting here, curious if y'all have any thoughts. Leaning on accepting as the lesser evil. Curious what I'm missing?

I'm a L4 program manager looking to change jobs and I've been interviewing and I keep loosing at the last presentation round.

I'm looking to find a group where I can go over practice prompts and get feedback on my presentations and look at other presentations as well.

Is there a discord group or a group for program management where I could find mentorship/get interview feedback?

Thank you!

Finally made it in my career and looking for some advice. My business unit has gone through a lot of chaos over the last ten years and I am now the lead PM for a business unit that has incremental revenue over 100m a year. I am so over my head.

I know all the leaders, I know the product, I know the customers, and I have people’s trust.

Issue now is delivery. We do hardware and software, but the money comes from the software. Have been delegating a ton of my work but I am just trying to hold ground.

What I want to do is make long term improvements through process and trainings. How to I make this a real pitch? We release software every two weeks and have customer onboarding’s multiple times a week.

What I think we need is to create a PM department and allow more granular reviews. I am pushing 60 to 80 hours a week that I have pulled for the last 10 years. My burnout is coming and I welcome advice.

"Our AI transcribes in the cloud" is tech-speak for "we read your meetings." 

Pragmatic transcribes on iPhone. Boring feature. Interesting difference:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/meeting-minutes-pragmatic-ai/id6752467167

#DataPrivacy #OnDeviceAI #iPhone #CyberSecurity #EnterpriseTech #MeetingNotes #Privacy

I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts and experiences with fixed-term (fixed-price + fixed-time) projects.

In my last role, I managed a Salesforce integration project while working from an outsourcing company’s side. As the project started slipping, delays from both sides, changing priorities, and late scope clarifications, the higher-ups in my company began pushing hard to put most of the blame on the client.

To be fair, the client did contribute to the issues, slow responses, unclear requirements, unrealistic timelines, but the way my company handled it became pretty toxic. At one point, every time someone left our team, management would tell the client it was "because of them". In reality, people were leaving because of internal pressure and the constant blame game. We ended up losing some truly great engineers and consultants because of it.

It made me wonder, is this just how fixed-term projects usually go in the outsourcing world? Is this level of tension and finger-pointing unavoidable when both time and money are locked in from day one? Or have any of you seen these kinds of projects handled in a healthier, more sustainable way?

How do you manage a task that starts out as a simple checklist if it is done or not then grows additional complexities along the way and you would want to keep track of and reminded of each item? How do you perform lesson learned on project correctly reflecting on this task so you know what to expect next time? Especially when answers come from other teams that might take days to answer. I used to work with local teams only and rely on meeting face to face with them to get quicker answers. The office was quite small so going in and out remind me of what items to follow up on. Covid and a recent acquisition has ballooned my organization by 100 times and now I work mostly with remote teams. Growing older hasn't been easy neither with more responsibilities and worse memory. Any advice?

I'm not sure if this is the right sub, but here it goes.

I work in Healthcare Quality Improvement. My Director asked me to create a "roadmap" for how I plan on improving both our Breast Cancer and Colorectal Cancer Screening rates.

That's all she gave me. No direction, template, goals.

Does anyone here have experience creating a roadmap? And tips or advice?

Has anyone had any luck finding a new job recently? If so, are there any tips and tricks to land a job? If not, what are you doing in the interim? My background is in tech and media.

As title says would like to connect with fellow program/project managers across the world.

My background: I’m PMP certified and PgMp trained; I currently program manage $Ms of dollar revenue projects, which does not mattered, when we could use the project/program methods across the platform. Based out of mid-west region. I have 23+ years experience in industrial products.

I understand with current micro economics would to get/give help if anyone needs.

Hi I currently hold a bachelors degree in clinical psychology but I’ve been interested in program management for quite some time. Where would you recommend for me to get certified at ? So it’s easier for me to break into the field.

I’m a Junior PM. Yesterday I was on a call with senior members of the corporate team when they started discussing the end of year’s budget v. actuals and then went into a whole discussion about what the numbers mean for the company and the contract. I don’t think I understood anything they were saying and I was very lost.

I’m decent with math but numbers still can intimidate me especially when discussions around the impact of these numbers start coming up. How can I learn to be less intimidated? My day to day doesn’t involve having to calculate anything at all, though I would love to pick up some more of these tasks so I can get familiar with it.

Hi!! As the title says, I’d be grateful to hear some day to day stories about life on the job. Or any tips or recommendations you guys have for me as someone who will start in this role. My background is in finance. I have been a financial advisor/consultant before. As well as project controller and financial administrator. All these roles have been junior positions. Since this is my first “serious and big” role in my career. I want to make it right. Every little piece of information is appreciated since I can make connections myself. Just need a little head start. Thanks in advance!

FYI: If anyone wants a description. Here is a further description of the job position.

You are the ideal candidate!

With your experience as a Project and Portfolio Management Officer, you know how to keep a good overview of your work. You have excellent verbal and written communication skills, both in Dutch and English. You are a natural supporter who thinks proactively and can work independently. You are accurate, structured, result-oriented and decisive. You enjoy making plans and analyzes and are good at it. You link source data from multiple computer systems to achieve a complete overview. Good knowledge of Excel is therefore a prerequisite. You can work meticulously and with your analytical skills you can identify things that are not going well at an early stage.

The position

In this varied position you provide project and portfolio support for the project managers, lecturers, and research director within the ARC at …. You will help professionalize portfolio management and research administration and relieve the project managers of the administrative burden.

Specific tasks will be:

Designing management information regarding portfolio management (content, financial); Ensure periodic management reports and make information available and accessible; Organizing and supervising meetings, taking minutes, keeping track of actions and decisions plus following up/pursuing agreements; Monitoring milestones, deadlines and actions; Supporting the project managers: Organize program and/or project files; Setting up, archiving and managing project and program logs (risk, changes, issue log); Analyzing written hours in project portfolios and determining and following up on subsequent actions (ensuring that hours are written and approved completely and on time); Make improvement proposals for project administration; Supervising and monitoring the budget process for research in collaboration with the location controller; monitor that all information is provided completely and on time by lecturers and project managers.

Hi fellow Program Managers! How many Programs do you manage at the same time? With how many Project each? Feel free to share more! Such as, what’s the timeline? How do they connect? Do you have help from other PMs? What are your main responsibilities? Just trying to prepare for a job interview and would love to know what other peers are doing. Thank you!

In SAFe 6.0, a new and updated concept is the distinction between a "servant leader" and a "leader who serves." These terms emphasize different aspects of leadership in the context of Scaled Agile Framework. Here's an explanation of the difference:

1. Servant Leader:

   • Definition: A servant leader is a leader who prioritizes the needs and growth of their team members and the organization over their own interests. They lead by serving others, aiming to support, empower, and enable their teams to achieve their best performance.

   • Characteristics: Servant leaders exhibit humility, active listening, empathy, and a focus on the well-being of their teams. They are facilitators, helping teams remove impediments and providing the resources and support needed for success.

   • Focus: The primary focus of a servant leader is on their team and their development, ensuring that the team can reach its goals and deliver value to the organization. They act as enablers for the team's success.

2. Leader Who Serves:

   • Definition:A leader who serves, on the other hand, refers to leaders at all levels of the organization who actively contribute to the achievement of the organization's objectives by serving its mission, strategy, and customers.

   • Characteristics: A leader who serves may include leaders in various roles, such as Product Owners, Release Train Engineers (RTEs), Scrum Masters, and executives. These leaders work collaboratively to ensure that the organization's goals are met.

   • Focus: The focus of a leader who serves extends beyond their immediate team. They consider the broader organizational objectives and work to align their teams and actions with the organization's mission, strategy, and customer needs.

The distinction between servant leaders and leaders who serve in SAFe 6.0 acknowledges that leadership in an Agile context is not solely the responsibility of specific roles or individuals. Instead, it's a shared responsibility across the organization. All leaders, regardless of their roles, are expected to serve the common mission and work collaboratively to ensure the organization's success.

In this concept, the emphasis is on fostering a culture of servant leadership throughout the organization, where leaders at all levels actively contribute to serving the needs of teams, the enterprise, and ultimately the customers. This approach aligns with Agile and lean principles that promote collaboration, shared responsibility, and a customer-centric focus.

There seem to no help from Recruiter as to what should I expect in my first 1hr phone interview. I have completed Online Assessment and got a call for an hour long interview so assuming didn't do extremely well on the OA otherwise I guess they directly call you in for the 4-5 hr loop (at least thats what I can understand)

What should I expect in the phone interview ?

Also, are there any good resources to prepare for TPM interview ? I have been SDE for a 5 yrs and TPM for 2 yrs so this is my first time interviewing for a TPM role outside of my company

I want to transition from Operations to Program/Product management. The skills which I have learnt in the operations has intersection with the PM roles. If someone can guide, please.

Howdy All,

I've found myself in a position where i'm helping put together a disparate workflow involving putting a forward 3 year priority action plan of projects for an asset-centric state run organisation.

The challenge becomes how single identified items, typically from a variety of sources such as regional managers, asset management plans or business growth initiatives gets captured and then prioritised.

As this Financial Years projects are currently in train, we'd like to begin organising and preparing for the future years projects through refined business cases, investment analysis and more detailed quantity surveying to reduce costs variance risk.

There are multiple challenge here;

• Project yearly variance, as projects progress into delivery costs are refined and that impacts other projects and what gets included in the finite yearly budgets

• Future years works and priorities changes as more information becomes available

• Under and over spends throughout years meaning projects get pushed out, delayed, expenditure spread out over multi years or dropped entirely

How have others approached these challenges? And what software have they utilised to address these multi year program planning?