The Barefoot Tech Lead

This is the ninth post in a series which starts with the introduction. The table of contents lists all the posts. Why write, but for it to be read? The title of this post borders on the tautological because it’s so obvious. Yet in many cases we find ourselves writing without the reader of our work clearly in mind. We could deal with this subject in the abstract, as it applies so widely, but I’m intentionally going to frame it within the job of a software engineer, to make it more relatable. Let’s start off by identifying exactly why this...…

Welcome to post eight in “Tech Lead 101”, if this is your first one I’d recommend the introduction first. Check out the table of contents too. In my previous post I alluded to coding being a great opportunity to lead by example. In this post I’d like to dive into that underlying idea a little bit more. You want to influence the behavior and standards of your team - whether it is how you run rituals, what you deem high enough quality in code or something totally different. One of the easiest ways of doing this is simply to show...…

This the seventh post in a larger series, the introduction is a good place to get started. Read the table of contents to see them all. A slightly provocative title - so let me start by saying that there are exceptional times when not writing any code for an extended period of time is the right thing to do, but this post is about my opinion on the general sense. By far the most common question I get asked by engineers considering the tech lead route is whether becoming a tech lead means an end to writing code. Let’s not...…

This part six of a larger series, get started with the introduction. Read the table of contents to see all the posts so far. The tension is quite literally in the name. Are you a technical authority? Or are you a leader? You can be either without the other, yet to be a tech lead you must excel at and be both. As a full time individual contributor you almost certainly have a natural strength. If it’s pure technical expertise it is often fairly obvious. Your strength is designing and implementing systems. If it’s tending towards leadership, it’s somewhat harder...…

This is part five of my series “Tech lead 101”. If you’re new here, check out the introduction first. Visit the table of contents for a full overview. About 1.5 years ago Monzo started to formalize the concept of a tech lead. We started by writing down high level expectations for what is expected of someone in this role (we call it a hat, because its not a promotion, but rather a function in the team instead of a sign of seniority). I helped review these and couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was missing. I’d been tech leading for...…

This is the fourth post in my series “Tech lead 101”, start with the introduction. The table of contents gives a good lay of the land. So we’ve already established two things together. First, figure out which people lead the team as well as their responsibilies. Second, the team is your compass for what to focus on as tech lead. You’re probably starting to notice a trend, I’m very people oriented - and I believe that you should be too. The greatest impact you can possibly have is through the people you lead. Of course you need the technical skills...…