How can a team function without a TPM?

A New Solution Through BCTO and Aline.team

When the topic of TPM (Technical Program Manager) arises in early-stage startups, the same question always follows:

“Do we need a TPM?”

And then, a realistic answer emerges:

“We need one, but it’s difficult right now.”

This article discusses why the TPM role exists and what changes when their responsibilities are broken down and implemented through systems instead of people.

We will also explain where BCTO and Aline.team fit into this process.

Why Was a TPM Needed?

A TPM is not just a simple schedule manager.

While a PM focuses on “What should we build?”, a TPM is responsible for the following questions:

1. How is this work progressing?
2. Who is becoming a bottleneck?
3. How do technical decisions impact schedule and risks?
4. How are the dependencies between multiple teams connected?

As organizations grow and systems become more complex,

these questions naturally converge on one person.

That person is the TPM.

This is also why TPMs are crucial in large corporations.

A TPM is the person who connects technical and organizational complexity.

But Why Is It Difficult for Early-Stage Startups?

The challenge lies in the reality of early-stage startups.

1. Experienced TPMs come with a high cost.
2. The smaller the team, the more disproportionate the management burden becomes.
3. Ultimately, many decisions rely on people’s experience and memory.

Therefore, in most early-stage teams,

the CTO or tech lead takes on the TPM role in addition to development.

The problem is that this structure doesn't last long.

Developers increasingly become coordinators,

and while coordination increases, the basis for decisions becomes unclear.

Breaking Down the Role from People to Systems

Here lies a crucial shift in perspective:

Instead of asking, “Should we hire a TPM?”

ask, “What structure can handle the tasks a TPM performs?”

If we divide the TPM's responsibilities, there are broadly two categories:

1. Observing and explaining
2. Facilitating coordination and decision-making

Do these two areas necessarily require a person to handle them entirely?

BCTO: Systematizing the TPM’s ‘Observation and Visibility’

BCTO automates the observation and reporting that TPMs do daily, using data.

1. Based on actual Git commits, PRs, and issues,
2. it shows “What is currently in progress?”
3. and through developer work patterns and flows,
4. it explains “Why did it slow down?”
5. It transforms schedule delays or excessive optimism into evidence for proactive measures, not post-hoc analysis.

The important point in this process is that

it is about explanation, not evaluation.

It doesn't show who did well or poorly,

but rather what structures and flows led to certain outcomes.

While a TPM would provide explanations through meetings and documents,

BCTO offers continuously updated data.

Aline.team: Supplementing the TPM’s ‘Coordination and Decision Support’

Aline.team goes a step further.

The questions that TPMs often found most challenging are typically:

1. Should a senior or junior developer handle this task?
2. Is the current bottleneck technical or communication-related?
3. Why does team speed vary with the same number of people?

Aline.team learns individual developers' development patterns and strengths,

analyzes task types and team situations together,

and aims to answer questions like:

1. “Who is the most rational choice to take on this task?”
2. “Why was this schedule predicted this way?”
3. “Where should intervention occur to speed up the overall flow?”

This is less about making decisions for you

and more about supporting decisions to make them explainable.

So, Do BCTO and Aline.team Replace TPMs?

To be precise, no.

These two products are not tools designed to eliminate the TPM role.

Instead, they enable the following:

1. Teams to function without a dedicated TPM.
2. Existing TPMs to focus on more critical decision-making.

It creates a structure where systems handle 70-80% of the tasks a human TPM would perform,

allowing people to concentrate on the remaining 20-30% of true judgment and responsibility.

In One Sentence

TPM is a role,

and BCTO and Aline.team turn that role into a scalable system.

What early-stage teams need is not

perfect consensus or more coordination.

1. A clear understanding of who makes decisions.
2. The ability to explain why those decisions were made.
3. A structure where accountability for outcomes is not blurred.

When that structure is maintained,

experience becomes a strength, and the team accelerates.