I'd recommend reading "Being Geek" by rands. Its great.
Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#32The best advice I could give is, whenever someone you manage brings you a problem, resist taking it away and solving it for them. Instead, give them some pointers on how they might solve it, but leave ownership of the solution with them. This is hard to do consistently, particularly when it would take you less time to do the work yourself, but the long-term effect is that you grow a team of self-sufficient people, wh…
This is very important imho - the temptation to just do it yourself is for me personally a hard thing to resist, but you will definitely strengthen your team this way and gain more respect from your developers. You obviously want to be there for them for any help and advice, but allow them to be the ones to solve it in the end.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#33Congratulation first. Managing people is easy—but being a manager is not about managing people. You have to be aware that managing is not as satisfying as coding and your goals have totally changed from now on. - Learn to listen—that's so crucial—they're tons of techniques to get a better listener. Listening can be boring but these techniques enable you to listen hours (even with a smile on your face) without getting…
I like your advice, except for the insistence on 1:1 meetings only. When there's a dispute on the team, the best option is often to grab a meeting room with a whiteboard and hash it out right then and there. Trying to mediate via 1:1 meetings or e-mail threads often just lets the dispute fester and poisons interpersonal relationships among team members.
Meetings aren't easy. Sure it can help to grab a room, gather and talk and calm down but an existing dispute can also further escalate in a larger meeting—it's gambling. One does always loose after a dispute (in his point of view) and that's much harder to accept in front of many than in front of one. If two have already a dispute, sure then you should talk with them both at the same time and act as a moderator. But still it's a very complex dynamic process which is harder to control with more participants.
Moreover, you can often clear/avoid a dispute when you had lots of 1-to-1-meetings beforehand where you got a good understanding of peoples thoughts, fears, etc.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#34Set up weekly 1:1 meetings. Never miss them. And whenever possible, do the meetings outside, even if it is just taking a walk.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#35Make lists. That's 90% of the job of a manager. Always have an answer to "what should I do next?"
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#36I made a similar transition myself and have one piece of advice for you. Forget about all that "leadership" and "management" bullshit. Seriously. When you have direct reports your primary function is to serve them. I'm not kidding - I know it sounds all squishy and kumbaya-ish but if you think about what it means to serve somebody else you'll have a really good compass to guide you through your day. Everybody seems t…
Absolutely agreed. There's a saying, "shit rolls downhill." I'd argue that a surprising amount of your job will be to keep that from happening to your people. Providing top-cover is one of the most important ways you can serve your team. Keep the crap off of them so they can concentrate on doing there jobs.
Yup. It's all about crap reduction. Nobody wants to deal with stupid shit. Most grown-ups understand life involves the occasional bit of excrement and can deal with it.
One of the biggest mistakes I see managers make is failing to view people as people. The shit flowing downhill is a symptom and not a given fact of life.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#37Three years ago, I was the sole employee/founder of my startup. Today, I'm CTO of a 21-person company with a 6-person dev team. As an individual developer, my default loop is "Find something to do. Do it. Repeat." As a CTO, my default loop is "First, cycle through all my employees and make sure that I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs. Second, find something to do. If possible, delegate it;…
As a CTO, my default loop is "First, cycle through all my employees and make sure that I have equipped them to be happy and productive in their jobs. Second, find something to do. If possible, delegate it; if not, do it. Repeat."
I have nothing to add except that this struck me as such an excellent distillation that a mere upvote seemed inadequate.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#38Do you like your team members? If not, find out why and find a reason to like them. Once you develop that basis to like your team members, everything else will fall in to place. You will take interest in their activities, not just in terms of getting your work done, but in terms of what they are trying to achieve.
Talk to your team members on an individual basis frequently and in an informal setting - people are much more open in an informal setting. Keep these meetings to 5 mins. If there are more topics than can be covered in 5 mins, increase the frequency of meetings, not the length.
Never do your team member's work. Help them in every way for them to do their work, but just don't do it for them.
(Break every rule / advice that people are giving out. Finding what works for you is one of best parts of management)
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#39I tend to be of the mind to learn by doing. As many of the others have mentioned, have conversations with your team members and spend time with them. A common practice is to grab lunch with them. This will help you get to know them and become more comfortable talking and listening to them.
I would also recommend regular work oriented meetings with them. Some may disagree, but I think regular meetings to review work, and go over tasks has a lot of value. You will see when they are finishing up their work and be able to hand off tasks more readily. Also do what you can to get feedback from them on you, and don't take it personally when they are critical and learn from it.
Ultimately there is no one answer and you have to find your own style as well as a style that works for your team. A conscious effort and trial and error will be better than books.
Re: Ask HN: I just got my first team lead. What should I do?
#40Lead by asking questions. It will force you to change your style, and it will grow others at the same time.