During a long drive the other day I did what I usually do, fumble through the usual technical podcast distribution sites until picking a talk that catches my eye.
I landed on an episode of Software Engineering Radio that most developers would glance over and move on in the search for a more buzz-wordy topic, but I gave it a chance. It was so informative that I listened to it again on my return trip… The episode was “Becoming a Tech Lead” with Pat Kua
What Leads Should Do:
Keep developers working effectively together and moving in the same direction
- Hold tech huddles, group code reviews, or mob programming
- Reduce code silos
- Strive to have code appear to be developed by a homogeneous coding strategy/style
- No developer should work on two feature areas at one time
Build trust between the technologists and the business
- Present to the business opportunities in value produced by the team’s technical decisions
- Keep tabs on Risk and isolate it
- When pitching projects have an exciting opportunities breakdown for the business.
Fight the Hero Effect
- Don’t always assign the best developer to the important features/tasks
- Get devs in areas of the code they aren’t accustomed to
- Give devs feature-lead roles promoting ownership and accomplishment
- Challenge code, don’t rewrite it
Maintain Interaction with your team
- Understand your dev’s goals
- Contribute code. Devs respect others when they can see quality code they produce.
- Get feedback from employees about yourself
- Understand how you cope with stress and adapt to negativity
- Tech leads that give ALL the answers are not being effective
Pat Kua’s book: Talking with Tech Leads
Parker Gordon | Software Engineering 