Free webinar: “Demystifying agile team roles - Tech Lead”
As anyone involved in software development can attest, naming things is notoriously hard. The confusion is not limited to the artifacts we software-people create but extends to our roles in a team. The definition of a Tech Lead is no different.
It is an excellent example of a topic that can spawn endless discussions on whether someone should be called a (senior) software engineer, an architect, a team lead, or an engineering manager.
Although it’s not the title but the essence that counts, it’s good to disambiguate what a tech lead is all about.
What is a tech lead?
Even though this role is not mentioned (let alone defined) in the Scrum guide or any other well-known document out there, most software teams either officially or unofficially consider one of their members as the leader for technical decisions.
In my experience, a Tech Lead is typically someone that embodies the concept of servant-leadership in the technical space, just like a Scrum Master does to promote Scrum and help team members understand the relevant theory, practices, rules, and values.
I also like Pat Kua's definition of tech leads: “A Tech Lead is a software engineer responsible for leading a team and aligning the technical direction.”
A Tech Lead is a software engineer responsible for leading a team and aligning the technical direction.
-Pat Kua
A team with a Product Manager, Engineering Manager and Tech Lead - by patkua.com
What is the difference between a team lead and a tech lead?
The role of a tech lead is not about just writing software or performing code reviews - their core responsibility is to lead the team (duh!) by example and help them achieve alignment in the technical direction.
A Tech Lead delivering on this role empowers each member of the team to evolve the piece of software they are building and guide them so that they can fully contribute to the development process.
In other words, Tech Leads provide an environment where every member of the team can perform their best work towards the goal of the team.
The Challenges for Tech Leaders
The sociotechnical context in which the team operates has a massive impact on the practices and tools needed to deliver on their goals.
This means that the Tech Lead needs to leverage their domain knowledge and reduce the cognitive load on the team by helping them understand how their work fits into the bigger picture. A big part of their job is to reduce accidental complexity in their day to day work by promoting high-quality standards and best practices such as CI/CD and facilitating informed decisions about the appropriate techniques the team should follow.
What skills does a Tech Lead need?
To succeed in this role, a tech lead needs to possess several diverse skills.
In-depth technical knowledge
Extensive and deep technical knowledge is the first thing that comes to mind, given that they need to act as an example for the rest of the team and promote the best practices for building software. This is why a senior engineer that knows the ropes and is always investing time in learning new skills to improve her craft fits well into this role.
Communication
Effective communication, however, is the distinguishing factor that makes the whole difference.
A Tech Lead needs to translate the goals or overall vision provided by the stakeholders / PMs and the technical vision communicated by the CTO and help the team evaluate the pros and cons of each technique or approach when tackling a problem - not just mandating their own ideas.
Mentoring
It is also crucial that they are excellent mentors for less experienced team members so that they can help them grow, although this is mainly the focus of a team lead or engineering manager.
Empathy
Given the funny games software development can play on someone’s emotions, a Tech Lead also needs to empathize with the development team and foster psychological safety for everyone. This means they need to mediate technical debates by allowing all voices to be heard and providing due credit to the team members for their work.
Building Trust
Who wouldn't like to work with people they trust. But that's a difficult feat. As a tech lead you need to have open ears and exercise those listening muscles.
Attracting Talent
Do you want a tribe? I am kidding…
A good tech lead attracts awesome engineering talent and helps people grow. The same goes for any kind of leader, of course. In today’s market, finding great talent easily is a competitive advantage for you.
Demystifying the Tech Lead
Grasping the exact responsibilities and where the Tech Lead role has a considerable effect may differ from company to company.
This unique position brings you with one foot on the engineering / architectural side and the other on the leadership side and that’s challenging.
That is why we decided to deep dive to the role of the tech lead in our second Q&A webinar.
In the next #teamroles from the trenches webinar, you will have the chance to explore the world of Technical Leadership and get real-life experiences for the role!
Don’t miss this. Come as you are and ask anything (about tech leadership of course).
When?
The event will be live on Thursday, June 25th, 2020 at 19:00 EET.
Sign up for the free webinar below.
Resources:
Listen Episode 1 of our webinar series discussing the Product Owner role.
Tech Leads with Pat Kua.
The role of a tech lead from hackernoon.
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