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Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#21

Post by hluska »

dorfsmay wrote: post #4

- you're going to be part of a lot of meetings, email list etc... Make sure you flow information down to your team, every day. - your main job will be to: - unblock your tam members - bring them back on track - consensus is great, but sometimes it doesn't work. Know when you need to make a decision even if not popular. - praise publicly, criticize in private - give people a chance (give warnings)

This is one of the more useful set of management tips that I have read.

First, thanks for adding this information. Second, congratulations on keeping it so concise. Excellent job.

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#22

Post by pc86 »

This seems prescient as I will be starting a new job as a tech lead in a week, and I actually considered making the same Ask HN post! Same tech stack, no less, although it's for 2-3 medium-sized projects, not a single large, complex one.

Best of luck on your interview.

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#23

Post by pc86 »

brandonb wrote: post #14

I always recommend the book "Leading Snowflakes" for new technical leads or engineering managers: http://leadingsnowflakes.com It gives very concrete advice, and it explains the people side in terms of skills that may already be familiar to you as an engineer -- for example, to "code review" your management decisions with your teammates. I'm also a big fan of this video on Autonomy without Chaos, by David Singleton.…

It's always interesting to come across a book relevant to me and find that it's basically a step-by-step implementation of Nathan Barry's "Authority" guide to writing a book (I mean that in a positive way, the site is very well made).

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#24

Post by fenguin »

Management is a completely separate set of skills from engineering, and a set you have to force yourself to learn. The best book I've read on the subject is Andy Grove's High Output Management [1] -- it talks about how to choose tasks with the highest leverage, how to run meetings and one-on-ones, how to make managerial decisions, and how to motivate your team.

[1] Cliffnotes at http://charles.io/high-output-management

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#25

Post by stevewilhelm »

Being a team lead means you must manage in three directions:

a) manage the expectations of your boss and shield your team from distractions and firefights,

b) manage collaboration and dependencies with other other teams, and

c) manage the day to day work of your team.

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#26

Post by samelawrence »

randcraw wrote: post #20

What's a good source on becoming a software dev lead? Here are a few suggestions among the many available: Brooks' "The Mythical Man Month" is a classic in this space, though I think its emphasis is less on leadership than the difficulties in software project management. And the book is rather dated now. DeMarco and Lister's "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" is also a classic, and emphasizes interpersonal t…

Amazon links for the lazy:

"The Mythical Man Month" - http://amzn.com/0201835959

"Peopleware: Productive Projects and Team" - http://amzn.com/0321934113

"The Pragmatic Programmer" - http://amzn.com/020161622X

"Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams" - http://amzn.com/032182203X

"Joy Inc: How We Built a Workplace People Love" - http://amzn.com/1591845874

"A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Being a Better Leader" - http://amzn.com/0964895692

"Becoming a Technical Leader: An Organic Problem-Solving Approach" - http://amzn.com/0932633021

"Code Complete" - http://amzn.com/0735619670

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#27

Post by dochtman »

pgbovine wrote: post #7

i enjoyed reading the book Team Geek http://www.amazon.com/Team-Geek-Software-Developers-Working/...

I liked Michael Lopp's (also known as Rands, from Rands in Repose) book, Managing Humans, when I first became a team lead 18 months ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software-Engi...

Re: Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?

#29

Post by tootie »

Some excellent advice here already, but I'll add a few more. One is to avoid putting development tasks on your own plate that you won't be able to complete. Your time is now likely to be taxed at 50% or more meaning you'll have a lot of demands on your time for meetings and such and so you'll find dev tasks can pile up. Just take on less work for yourself and delegate.

The other one is learning how to wield your authority. You'll now (hopefully) be invited to or least have visibility into leadership meetings, design reviews, contract reviews, road mapping. Make sure you voice opinions in terms of much time tasks will take, which people are needed, what is feasible/infeasible, if you're signing up for a mission impossible. Stop saying things are "hard" or "easy" and instead identify "risks".

Notice that almost nobody in this thread is telling you to work on your technical skills :)

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