Influencing Without Authority as a Technical Program Manager

In large technology organizations, Technical Program Managers (TPMs) play a crucial role in orchestrating cross-functional teams—including software engineering, UX, data science, platform, and infrastructure teams—to deliver complex programs successfully. However, TPMs often face a key challenge: leading without direct authority over the teams they rely on.

Mastering the skill of influencing without authority is essential for driving alignment, fostering collaboration, and delivering results in matrixed environments. In this article, we explore practical strategies that TPMs can use to lead without formal power, ensuring that software development, data, and digital teams work together seamlessly.

1. Build Credibility & Trust Across Teams

As a TPM, you act as the connective tissue between multiple teams, including backend engineers, frontend developers, UX designers, data scientists, and business stakeholders. To influence decisions effectively, you must establish credibility by demonstrating deep domain knowledge and a clear understanding of team priorities.

How to Build Trust as a TPM:

Learn the technical landscape—Understand how different teams contribute to the architecture, data pipelines, and UX workflows.
Speak their language—Develop fluency in engineering terminology while also appreciating UX and business considerations.
Show empathy for team constraints—Recognize the trade-offs engineers, designers, and data teams make, and advocate for practical solutions that balance speed and quality.

Example:A TPM leading a cloud migration initiative can gain credibility by understanding infrastructure dependencies, security risks, and performance bottlenecks, ensuring that engineering teams see them as a valuable partner rather than an external manager.

2. Mobilize Cross-Functional Allies

No single team can drive large-scale initiatives alone. TPMs must identify key allies across engineering, UX, and data teams who can help champion the program’s success.

How to Build Strategic Alliances:

Find early adopters—Identify engineers, designers, or data analysts who are excited about the program and can serve as internal advocates.
Leverage influential leaders—Engage senior engineers, principal designers, and lead data scientists who can influence their peers.
Secure leadership sponsorship—Ensure that directors and VPs support your initiative, providing visibility and urgency.

Example:A TPM leading a data platform migration worked with data engineers and machine learning teams to highlight the benefits of moving to a more scalable architecture. By securing buy-in from respected data leads, they accelerated adoption across other teams.

3. Find Common Ground Between Teams

In a multi-disciplinary software development environment, each team has unique priorities and constraints. Engineering may focus on technical scalability, UX on design consistency, and business teams on customer impact. A TPM must bridge these gaps by identifying shared goals.

How to Align Teams:

Understand team-specific priorities—UX cares about consistency and usability, data teams about pipeline reliability, and engineering about scalability.
Frame problems in a shared language—Rather than focusing on “engineering trade-offs” alone, discuss how decisions impact user experience, data integrity, and business KPIs.
Define non-negotiables early—Clarify which aspects of a project are critical vs. flexible, ensuring smoother negotiations.

Example:A TPM managing an enterprise software rollout at a bank worked with legal, finance, and engineering teams to ensure that regulatory requirements and performance SLAs were met without slowing down the go-live schedule.

4. Listen, Adapt, and Seek to Understand

Influence is not about pushing decisions—it’s about understanding stakeholder concerns and co-creating solutions. TPMs must be active listeners who can interpret team needs and adjust plans accordingly.

Key Listening Tactics:

Ask open-ended questions—Encourage teams to share challenges rather than imposing solutions upfront.
Recognize resistance as a signal—If a team pushes back, it often means there’s an overlooked risk or competing priority.
Reframe opposition into collaboration—Turn “this won’t work” into “how can we adjust this to fit your constraints?”

Example:During an e-commerce platform migration, engineers resisted adopting a new CI/CD pipeline due to concerns about downtime risks. Instead of forcing adoption, the TPM engaged DevOps and QA teams to build a parallel testing phase, ensuring a smooth transition.

5. Influence Through Storytelling & Data

TPMs must craft compelling narratives that align teams around a shared vision. Whether presenting to engineers, designers, or business executives, storytelling and data visualization can drive stronger buy-in.

How to Persuade with Storytelling:

Connect decisions to business impact—Show how technical choices affect revenue, security, or customer retention.
Use data to reinforce urgency—Leverage metrics, benchmarks, and A/B test results to justify trade-offs.
Frame challenges as opportunities—Instead of focusing on blockers, highlight how solving a problem will benefit all stakeholders.

Example:A TPM driving a UX redesign for a banking app used customer analytics and user testing data to show that improving navigation and accessibility would increase engagement by 20%, securing buy-in from executives and engineering teams.

6. Bring Practical Solutions, Not Just Problems

Engineering, UX, and data leaders already juggle numerous priorities. TPMs should anticipate challenges and offer actionable solutions, rather than escalating problems without context.

How to Present Solutions Effectively:

Proactively de-risk major dependencies—Identify potential roadblocks and suggest mitigation strategies before they escalate.
Use trade-off frameworks—Outline decision options with pros, cons, and impact assessments.
Ensure alignment before leadership reviews—Work through issues at the working-team level before escalating to VPs or executives.

Example:Instead of simply flagging a regulatory compliance risk in an AI-powered fraud detection system, a TPM partnered with legal and data science teams to propose automated model auditing tools, ensuring both compliance and operational efficiency.

7. Let Go of Ego and Celebrate Team Success

TPMs do not drive impact alone—their success is the result of team collaboration. The best TPMs focus on outcomes, not personal recognition, and amplify team achievements.

How to Lead Without Ego:

Give credit generously—Publicly acknowledge engineers, designers, and data analysts who drive results.
Focus on team impact over personal wins—Frame successes as collective achievements.
Celebrate milestones visibly—Use showcases, retrospectives, and leadership updates to highlight progress.

Example:A TPM leading a machine learning model rollout ensured that data engineers and MLOps teams were recognized for improving inference speeds by 30%, strengthening cross-functional morale.

Final Thoughts: The TPM as an Organizational Glue

Mastering influencing without authority is what makes TPMs indispensable in large-scale product development and enterprise software programs. By building credibility, mobilizing allies, aligning teams, listening actively, using storytelling, and driving practical solutions, TPMs bridge the gap between engineering, UX, data, and business teams—delivering high-impact, scalable software solutions.

If you’re preparing for a TPM role at a top tech company, practice influencing scenarios where you must drive alignment without formal authority. It’s one of the most valuable leadership skills in today’s fast-paced, cross-functional tech environment.