Congrats! You're the tech lead - now what? Eryn O'Neil | The Lead Developer New York 2017

[@SubtleAsh-TheImmortal]

Fantastic talk, Eryn. Here is the summary for folks: Facilitate, Advocate, Motivate the team and the technological vision Facilitate: Always ask yourself - what's next - Remove roadblocks - Perceive the need -- Tactic #1 --- Tickets, hours and burndowns - be data centric to back your decisions --- Know the answers or point them - I don't know but... I will find out Advocate: - Advocate for your team and give them the context to enable them to take decisions -- Tactic #2 --- Write down everything to avoid ground hog syndrome --- Advocate : Developers, Mgmt, Clients --- Say NO to scope creep Motivate: Your attitude sets the tone of the team - absorb the crazy - Lesser complains = better solutions You're not writing the solution but you're responsible for it You can't wear the IC hat as much as you did - accept it!

[@acupsf]

Great talk, fun & insightful

[@JohnKerbaugh]

Thanks for the talk. Saving to refer back to this one.

[@PizzaPizza_99]

This was really good. I wished I listened to this video when I first got my tech lead job as I didn't know what it really entailed

[@ayusharora8141]

very well put

[@papanino4415]

Well structured and well explained. Great talk.

[@Dtsun16]

Wow this was an incredible talk. Thank you very much for sharing in such a clear way

[@gearboxworks]

Really good and useful talk.I took tons of notes I am taking on an official tech lead at an org after having been the unofficial tech lead for a decade at my own company/micro-agency/dev shop. So I am certainly not an expert here. But I can't help but feel that a one of the things discussed regarding "Facilitate" is more for the project manager role vs. the tech lead, e.g. coordinating people outside the team for unblocking. Am I wrong here, or no? If I am wrong, why is this more of a tech lead role and less of a PM role?

[@baz_sh]

Hey Mike, that's a great question and got me thinking. I suppose one way to think about it would be from the example of "no but.." so when you're asked "we need X by Y" coming back with "we can do that, but we need Z" or, "We can't because of A" is a _form_ of facilitating beyond the boundaries of your team. It might mean finance or marketing need to do something in order to reach a particular objective. That's not to say it isn't for the PM to do, but you can support them or even take on that responsibility as required. One aspect where being the TL can add weight here is often you'll have the technical responsibility / domain knowledge and or data to back up your claim. In this instance, the PM may very well just be the messenger so it could be more effective coming from yourself, as the lead. Just some thoughts.

[@nonamezz20]

awesome talk !

[@Rare.99]

I only have one guy working on my GDD and the pressure is real!

[@anythingwithgkc]

good speech. learn lot

[@lesto12321]

realizing i am doing passive-aggressive whiteboarding since forever and never though about that as tool reather than an inconvenient.

[@conscofd3534]

15:56, too many tech leads have 10000 foot view BUT unfortunately while thinking they live and stay at 10000 foot of "the other people". Then, when interrupted they ask you if a real developer needs to be hired to do the job you "struggle" with... And on top of that, you have seasonned devs or lead devs that just wait the promoted tech lead fails at some point just to say "I told ya that person was not a good fit compared to me!". That's just disgusting.

[@genyklemberg]

Nicely structured without any water. Good job. Or not, water was actually, one for the pretzels😅

We de simplified

[@kalmurza]

I got shitscared of that cough at 3:55

[@coderider3022]

So basically the best Dev being tied up as nanny to less capable Devs ?

[@JohnKerbaugh]

Some of this can be resolved with good planning, solid task descriptions, and a solid self-help wiki. Better to empower and make introductions then be the one fetching resources. Imho sometimes it means assigning research or co-dev help to a senior dev. Or passing them to the PM, or other business resource (PO, BA, Design).

[@stephens3909]

If you recall from the presentation, a senior software developer is going to be concerned with technical aspects, deal with difficult problems in contained domains and not see the whole project (no 10,000ft view). That's their job. They may not necessarily be knowledgeable about the other projects within the team, which is true of my team, they're concerned about what they are working on. Likewise, may not be involved in stakeholder, management or client discussions. So if by "best" you mean displaying foresight, leadership tactics and understanding the business, a senior developer can be proactive in their bubble but it'll be impossible for them to be better at that than a good technical lead. If by "best" you mean development capability and understanding, it's not a requirement that a tech lead be a better software developer than the each of their team members, I'd even discourage trying to do that because that mindset is arrogant and full of pitfalls. A good tech lead will encourage and utilise the skills of all of their team members, understand what they tell you so you can make better decisions, but also never pigeon hole someone as the "X speciality dev". Calling a potential team we know nothing about "less capable devs" screams please don't hire me as a tech lead.

[@rtothec1234]

I’ve always found that the best lead devs aren’t the most technically superior ones but the ones with the best communication and ability to delegate things to others. So no, I don’t believe in tying up the workhorse with administrative weight either. But to use the term less capable is also not right either. Being a dev is more than just being good at coding. It is also a good communicator and translator for the tech and the business team. And trust me, want these people on your team. They provide a good buffer between people who just want to code and the business team / stakeholders.