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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?

#61

Post by 7402 »

spenczar5 wrote: post #54
7402 wrote: post #53

Here are three rules I've followed: 1) If there's an exciting fun task and a messy unpleasant task, assign the fun task to someone else and do the unpleasant task yourself. 2) If someone on your team wants to ask you a question, always make yourself available and absolutely pretend that you don't mind being interrupted. But if you need to ask someone on your team a question, always ask first if it is a good time for…

How do you avoid burnout when you're being so self-sacrificial? Seems like it'd be a big risk.

Your satisfaction changes from being happy that you've polished some nice bit of code to being happy that you've shipped a product and successfully run a group, and gained the admiration of the people on your team and in your company. Competence is it's own reward.

I learned those rules from observing the behavior of group leaders I've worked with/for. There have been a few times (over many years) when I've thought to myself, "My boss is fantastic! I am so amazingly lucky to be working for this person!!" When that happens, I've asked myself, how does he/she do it? And tried to figure out the answer.

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

#62

Post by dclowd9901 »

mopoke wrote: post #48
dclowd9901 wrote: post #45

A good tech lead in my mind is someone with a strong technical vision who has the backbone to see their vision through, but is also very adept at ironing out the myriad issues that fracture teams. It means being an advocate for the best technical solution but compromising with the other teams in the org to meet their needs. It also means being very unpopular as a good technical lead will give commandments from on hig…

In my experience, a good technical lead won't give commandments from on high. A good technical lead will consult and facilitate a discussion and mediate conflict. They will also be directive when the time is right, but only after having listened and weighed the arguments. They will also be able to explain the rationale behind those decisions.

I've had your tech lead. They're a weenie and nobody ever congeals around initiatives because they have endless meetings to debate everything all the time. Sometimes you just need to say, "do it this way or find another job." I know that's not a popular idea around the democratized millennial coddling of Silicon Valley, but honestly I'd rather have someone throw down the gavel than sit through another month of research findings meetings before we finally decide git is better than svn. Your person isn't a lead, they're a diplomat.

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

#63

Post by Vraxx »

methodover wrote: post #50

OP, I'm sort of curious why they're hiring a tech lead from the outside. Why hasn't someone taken that position from within the organization? Someone who's worked on the project, who understands it, who has the moral and political authority to lead? I worry that your task will be really, really tough. If you can, in the interview, try and understand the situation over there. Why do they need an outside lead?

Hmm.. I didn't necessarily read it as they were hiring from outside necessarily.. I'm sure it's not uncommon to have interviews internally even if all of the potential candidates are already employees.

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

#64

Post by 7402 »

methodover wrote: post #55
7402 wrote: post #53

Here are three rules I've followed: 1) If there's an exciting fun task and a messy unpleasant task, assign the fun task to someone else and do the unpleasant task yourself. 2) If someone on your team wants to ask you a question, always make yourself available and absolutely pretend that you don't mind being interrupted. But if you need to ask someone on your team a question, always ask first if it is a good time for…

I totally agree with (1) and (3). However, about (2), it obviously depends on the team and everything, but for me, I've asked that if someone has a question and I have my headphones on, ask me on slack. I'll respond quickly, and it's way less disruptive to me than verbal interruptions.

I guess for me it depends on whether the team lead is more of a peer or more of a supervisor. If the team is all senior people, then I'd agree, they should be more careful about interrupting and honoring the headphone convention.

But if the other person is more junior, or a direct report, or just joined the company, then I personally feel more responsibility to give a prompt answer and prioritize the other person's productivity over my own.

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

#65

Post by hiram112 »

chetanahuja wrote: post #6
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)

your main job will be to: - unblock your tam members - bring them back on track Ditto. Note that the unblocking/course-correcting role is the real job. Depending on the size of the team, you may or may not want to be involved in architecture/design of minor projects that crop up all the time (things that might take a week or two to develop). Your team should trust and rely on your advise/insight around technical issu…

And yes, that set of responsibilities means that this would be more than a full-time job. You should know that going in. If you're more inclined to a strict 40 hour week, you'd probably better off declining this offer.

Exactly. In my experience, team lead of smaller teams (less than 6-8 developers, testers, etc.) just means 50% more work for the same pay and status. You are not a true manager in your superiors' eyes.

Also, it is rarely a way to move up the ladder. In our business, changing companies every few years is the only way to get promotions and raises.

Unless the job comes with the ability to purchase resources, make hiring and firing decisions, while also being paid more, team lead is not a position I volunteer for anymore. It's better to use the extra time for your own projects / networking.

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

#67

Post by davnicwil »

Vraxx wrote: post #63
methodover wrote: post #50

OP, I'm sort of curious why they're hiring a tech lead from the outside. Why hasn't someone taken that position from within the organization? Someone who's worked on the project, who understands it, who has the moral and political authority to lead? I worry that your task will be really, really tough. If you can, in the interview, try and understand the situation over there. Why do they need an outside lead?

Hmm.. I didn't necessarily read it as they were hiring from outside necessarily.. I'm sure it's not uncommon to have interviews internally even if all of the potential candidates are already employees.

> I'm sure it's not uncommon to have interviews internally

In fact depending on location it may be legally required - I'm fairly sure this is the case in the UK (in addition to having to advertise the opening externally too, even if there's absolutely no intention of hiring anyone external) - please someone correct me if this is wrong.

Probably the sort of thing early-stage startups can get away with not doing because they're very under the radar, but it's certainly happened at mid-sized companies I've worked at.

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

#68

Post by adamrmcd »

7402 wrote: post #53

Here are three rules I've followed: 1) If there's an exciting fun task and a messy unpleasant task, assign the fun task to someone else and do the unpleasant task yourself. 2) If someone on your team wants to ask you a question, always make yourself available and absolutely pretend that you don't mind being interrupted. But if you need to ask someone on your team a question, always ask first if it is a good time for…

I follow 1..3 daily. I also have this.

4) Be humble. Redirect upstream praise for your team's work onto your team directly (away from yourself). Accept criticism for your team's work directly onto yourself.

5) Expect to do less actual programming, but still keep ownership of one or two components (UI, DB, etc) for up to 1/3 of your time. This helps to maintain an ear-to-the-ground on ongoing features/bugs and to communicate intelligently with the technical team.

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

#69

Post by angersock »

spenczar5 wrote: post #54
7402 wrote: post #53

Here are three rules I've followed: 1) If there's an exciting fun task and a messy unpleasant task, assign the fun task to someone else and do the unpleasant task yourself. 2) If someone on your team wants to ask you a question, always make yourself available and absolutely pretend that you don't mind being interrupted. But if you need to ask someone on your team a question, always ask first if it is a good time for…

How do you avoid burnout when you're being so self-sacrificial? Seems like it'd be a big risk.

Make sure you're getting compensated properly, and make sure it's work that's visible.

If you can't do those two things...well, enjoy your burnout. :(

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

#70

Post by sliverstorm »

7402 wrote: post #61
spenczar5 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you avoid burnout when you're being so self-sacrificial? Seems like it'd be a big risk.

Your satisfaction changes from being happy that you've polished some nice bit of code to being happy that you've shipped a product and successfully run a group, and gained the admiration of the people on your team and in your company. Competence is it's own reward. I learned those rules from observing the behavior of group leaders I've worked with/for. There have been a few times (over many years) when I've thought t…

There also appears to be satisfaction in cultivating new talent and watching it grow. A friend of mine is at his most excited and animated when he is talking about the new ways his reports have grown as engineers, not when he's talking about this or that technology.
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