Decoding the Path from Developer to Team Lead
Leadership is essential to achieve an organization’s vision. However, a leader is not always a member of senior management or the project manager. Being a leader takes having or growing certain skills just as valuable as knowing how to code or speaking a second language.
That is why identifying and appreciating these qualities is so important. Yet, technical lead should not be mistaken for soft skills, since even when they are both essential, they should be dealt with differently.
Technical Lead vs. Non-Technical Lead
Although Tech Lead and Team Lead are both management and orientation roles, the scope of their responsibilities is different.
The lead developer or tech lead is usually in charge of the technical performance of a team of software developers, following assignments and the deliveries of each member closely, as well as the results and the code quality standards through every step of the project.
Alternatively, team leads (non-technical leaders) spend less time writing or supervising code. They will devote their time to designing a development strategy to deliver results in due time and manner. Perhaps, one of the most important duties of a team lead is also to foster good tech practices and to set a comfortable environment for their teams.
Some of the duties of a team lead may be managing potential blockers, fluently communicating with the client, working closely with the tech lead, watching over the team’s integration with other teams in the company and making projections and estimates.
From Developer to Team Lead
Feeling the urge to lead a team is usually half the way, and even more. However, knowing the steps to take is vital and the decision to take the plunge should be made with full awareness.
- First, you need to be certain and honest about what your motivation is: whether writing and revising code, or working as a connector among the code, the company and the client.
- You can start with little steps, like taking up more tasks, embarking on more challenging projects, making suggestions, offering your ideas to improve the workflow or offering feedback to your peers.
- You could attend events, talks and conferences to find inspiration and to meet other industry leaders. Having an experienced mentor while walking this path is the best way to learn.
- Even if you are not working as a tech lead, your knowledge and skills must be up to date. You need to be at your team’s level even if you take the non-technical path.
- Additionally, it is difficult to learn the team leader skills while you are a developer. You need to invest part of your time in building your leader profile.
- A good way to boost your profile is taking up some / training in both areas: technical training as well as management or leadership training.
Becoming the leader your team needs
Delegate, delegate, delegate. You cannot do everything on your own. You need to know the interest and the potential of each member of the team, to be able to assign the tasks they enjoy and dominate the most. Some people will be happy to take care of the front end and others, the back end, for example.
Hacker Noon’s article Developer Career Path: To Become a Team Lead or Stay a Developer? states that: “To become a team leader, you have to learn how to code through your developers”. Then, it continues to explain: “Your clients always want many high-quality features in little time. Developers want to deliver high-quality features but with no rush. Your role as a team leader is to find a perfect balance between quality, speed, and quantity.”
Contrary to tech leads, team leads are in constant contact with the client. They seek to create trust and to maintain a healthy communication about the project. At the same time, the communication with the team is vital and permanent, yet never intrusive. A good leader listens to peers and offers feedback, attention and acknowledgment, as needed.
Team leaders set the goals clearly and oversee that everyone is moving in the right direction, as comfortably and conveniently as possible.
Nature or Nurture? How to encourage potential leaders
Although leading comes naturally to some people, anyone with enough time and motivation is able to learn and work on leading skills.
During this process, it is vital for the organization to motivate and encourage its candidate leaders to develop their potential as well as their soft skills. The company should also offer mentoring and training programs to guarantee its leaders are conducting their teams efficiently.
Especially with strongest prospects, the level of responsibility can be gradually increased (never beyond their interest and potential). It is also a good idea to rotate them through different positions in order for them to gain experience and to assess their performance in specific areas.
Rewarding initiative is a must, as well as celebrating excellence in public. These are ways to let the team know their performance is being noticed and these techniques help team members feel confident to take the plunge into team lead.
To sum up
Daniel Goleman assures that the best leaders are those who feel the urge to exceed expectations, both personal and others’: “the first sign is the very passion for the work itself.”
However, even when many developers are great at what they do, they do not fit the leader profile. To identify a future leader, it is necessary to see beyond the performance. By noticing motivation to keep improving, easy communication and organization, capacity to influence and motivate others, among other features, we can acknowledge we are in front of a future leader.
Fernando Echeverri — Technology Manager @ Spark Digital
