Avito team lead commandments

We’ve never posted our internal documents and policies on Medium before, but we’d like to start doing that. So here comes our Team Lead Code.

1. Never promise anything beyond your control

Example: promise to promote a staff member to lead engineer at the following performance review.

You do not directly control the review outcome. You may have an ideal presentation plan in your head, but the final score depends on many factors and the people involved. Therefore, there is always a risk of not being able to carry out a promise.

The consequences of this are unpredictable. In the best-case scenario, you lose credibility. In the worst case, you lose a team member.

2. Never do another’s work

Example: it’s easier for you to solve a problem yourself than to explain to others how to solve it.

Two problems lurk here simultaneously. The first is about the development of the staff member concerned. What is routine for you is a growth opportunity for someone else. By taking on tasks yourself, you are taking away the chance to grow from your colleagues.

The second one is the bass factor. By doing other people’s work, you become a point of functional failure. When you become a manager, you lose control of your time. Sooner or later, you will fail the task and wreck the sprint/roadmap/OKR.

Delegate as much as possible! Do you want to code? Take on tasks that are not directly related to performance targets or those that will improve your team’s productivity.

3. The corridor problem

Example: a staff member has taken on a task, but he attacks you with “how-to” questions whenever a challenge arises.

The corridor problem becomes a real threat when the staff member attempts to shove off responsibility for a complex issue. By giving specific hints, you accept this. And even if you come up with a working solution right away, the staff member will only be responsible for the implementation, but if a problem arises as a result, it will fall on your shoulders. I’m sure that you have enough of your own issues.

4. The right to mistake

You’re not perfect, and neither are your team members. Everyone can make a wrong decision, which backfires at a later time. The important thing is knowing how to deal with mistakes. Not thinking and not analyzing the consequences is bad. But if you learn a lesson from each mistake and no longer repeat it, this means growing experience.

Never take away the right to make mistakes from your team! Otherwise, they will be afraid to make decisions, try to do everything perfectly, and spend a lot of time on it, not having time to do something equally important.

5. Don’t be afraid to admit your mistake

Example: you have decided on how to work on a project. Over time, you notice that the project is going in the wrong direction, more and more problems arise, and customer dissatisfaction grows. But you try not to pay attention to it because a lot of time and resources have already been invested, and the team will not understand. As a result, the project will bring even more problems and, in the end, may become a complete failure.

You won’t always be right. There are no people who are never wrong. Unfortunately, there are people who puff out their chests and say, “I always thought so,” and then quit just before the complete failure.

Don’t hesitate to acknowledge a problem. It always is better to stop in time and turn 180 degrees than attack a rock and take your whole team with you.

6. Don’t be afraid to stop being a friend

Example: you are promoted to a team lead in a team where you are used to being on equal footing. You try to act as before, but a routine task arrives that needs to be delegated to someone. But nobody wants it. You try to push, but you are one of them. How can you do it?

Leadership implies confrontation. As you know from your own experience, people are not always enthusiastic about new requirements or tasks. Sooner or later, you will have to press, criticize, and even fire people.

Being a friend of your subordinates will make this even harder. The sooner you find balance in keeping a distance, the better for you and for them. For starters, skip having lunch with them once. Let them talk about you.

7. Do not criticize the person, criticize the result

By criticizing a person, you hurt their self-esteem. The person you criticize can retreat into herself, hide in his shell and be frustrated, or begin to defend himself, which will lead to arguments that will not help the situation in any way.

Compare the two wordings: “you are irresponsible” and “you have failed a critical task for a second time.” The two sound different.

If you want to criticize, give specific figures. These are much more difficult to argue with.

8. Don’t be afraid to give negative feedback

Don’t take negative feedback as a punishment. This will make it difficult to give negative feedback, and you will constantly try to smooth the corners.

It will help if you give negative feedback from a growth perspective. There is a problem, but no one tries to scold the team member for this. Instead, think together about how to fix the situation.

Do not give negative feedback too softly — it will not be clear that the feedback is negative. For example, you say: “This could have been done better.” Your listener does not have your context, and with a high probability, he will interpret this as “you are doing everything well, but you can still improve.” Then he will think that the quality of his work suits everyone. He is not willing to overtax himself to improve his performance, so nothing will be done. Instead, say: “I see a problem here. Let’s discuss it.” But remember #5 above!

9. Too many second chances

When giving another “second chance”, remember about the balance.

If you do not give a second chance, you deny the right to make mistakes and be imperfect. We all make mistakes, and we all have weaknesses.

But giving too many “second chances” when someone makes the same mistake regularly and does not learn from it is simply indulging slovenliness. No one works in a vacuum: the team sees the difference between their behavior and that person’s behavior. By avoiding addressing the problem, you demotivate the team and send them a message that they can screw up as much as they want, and nothing will happen.

10. Hiring the right person

When hiring, try to maintain a balance. Recruitment often takes a very long time, because we start looking for the perfect candidate. It is difficult, time-consuming, and not always necessary.

How to recruit correctly? Ask yourself a question: “What demand should the prospective employee’s knowledge and skills address?” Then, add questions to the interview list that will purposefully test whether the candidate has the competencies you are looking for.

Try to understand the lifetime of the problem. If it is resolved after 2–3 months, what will the candidate with the given skill set do afterward in the team? Will he be productive? After thinking about the future, add to the checklist a check that the candidate will still be useful.

Before making a hiring decision, the final step is to check if the candidate is the right candidate for your goals. Not the most extraordinary candidate, not the one you like most, but the one who will solve the problem.

11. Don’t compromise when hiring

“Being wrong and not hiring a good candidate is better than being wrong and hiring a bad one.”

A bad employee will do less good and potentially more harm and take away the time that you could invest in a good employee. Feeling sorry for the bad, you punish the good. The same logic applies when firing.

12. When discussing a situation, do not take sides

Do not get involved in the problem but try to remain an outside observer. This will allow you to maintain objectivity, solve the problem, and not support one side at the expense of the other.

13. Do not hesitate to repeat how you understood your opponent

Rephrasing the discussion in your own words in the form of a summary is a good way to ensure that you have not missed anything and have understood the interlocutor correctly. For example, after listening to your opponent, you can say: “Let me summarize what you said” and sum up the main points. This will allow the listener to make sure that you understand her correctly, and you will reduce the risk of information distortion.

14. Everyone has a different context

Remember that everyone thinks differently, and everyone has different motivators. If something drives you, it does not necessarily drive another.

What is perfectly obvious to you may not be clear to your opponent. Everyone has different experiences, backgrounds, and knowledge gaps.

15. Last but not least: don’t forget about yourself

You lead a team to success. A team lead who has burned out and lost motivation will not lead the team to a good result. Sooner or later, guys will notice this and lose motivation themselves.

Don’t forget about yourself. Build boundaries between work and personal life. Do not try to do everything everywhere, please everyone, learn to say no, and just rest. More importantly, don’t take the team’s output personally. The task entrusted by you will not always be solved ideally or even well from your perspective. Let it be. You shouldn’t feel responsible for every single line written by each team member. Get involved in fixing critical crashes, but don’t let a poorly done task rob you of healthy sleep.

Please share in the comments what you agree and disagree with. Share what commandments are missing and whether your company has similar guidelines.