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What Qualities are Necessary in a Good Team Lead?
Midnight Thunder asks: "We have all had our share of team leads and some of us have been in
the position ourselves. I would be curious to know what things you have appreciated from your team leads and what you didn't like. Also,
for those of you who have been in the position how you found it. The main reason I ask is because this offer has been given to me as a carrot and I would like to make the right choice, and if I take
it learn from other people's experience how to be a good lead."
patience, and a cool head
respect, trust and support for your team
take chances on people, then make sure they have what they need to succeed (training, time, etc.)
listen to others' ideas, don't assume being lead means your ideas or decisions are better
like any other role, put people and doing the right thing above looking good to your managers or meeting a date on a plan.
I can think of tons of others, but if you get that right, you are miles ahead of most leads.
...begins in wonder
Fuck you and your power trip. Watch yourself constantly -- bad managers get big heads from being in charge. Good managers are constantly asking if they're applying rank only in areas that further the project. If you get off on playing top dog socially among your coworkers, if you pull a little more of the budget for a better PC for yourself when someone else on your team's going to advance the project more with that same bump, if you equate your position in any way with dominance... you're becoming one of those raging assholes who's only going to have a handful of brown-nosing followers while the rest of the team does the bare minimum and cuts out as early as they can.
Keep your whining to yourself. You don't get to vent about superiors, other team members, or the state of the company. You can start a big panic without realizing it. And you can make people paranoid about just what kind of crap you spew about them when they're not around. "If he says this stuff about Bill, what the hell is he saying about me?"
Be assertive, not confrontational. Learn the difference between stating what you want and holding that position and being a manipulative and domineering fucktard. "We need this by Friday. How can we get this by Friday? What can I do to help you do this by Friday?" That's a good chain of discussion. "We need this by Friday. (Interrupting)-Bullshit! I know you can do this. Stay late if that's what it takes. Jesus, anyone else could do this by Friday. You know, others are delivering more than you." That's a good indication that you're an ass. Follow up by complaining about a worker to others for bonus points.
"I don't know." Stand in the mirror and practice saying that every morning. The most dangerous kind of lead is the lead who thinks he knows everything. The next most dangerous kind is the kind who thinks he should know everything. It's your job to know how to get things done and how to find answers. Learn which people on your team are good for what kinds of answers. Don't even begin to pretend you know everything yourself, you dick.
Relax control. You have a pet way of doing things. That's cool if you're doing them. If one of your guys wants to take a different approach than you would take, hear him out and let him do it his own way if it sounds like it'll still work. You may have ten favorite algorithms and coding tricks that you think make things easy. But you know what? Your guy probably has different styles, algorithms, and tricks that he's familiar with. Let him do it his way if it's going to be easier for him, even if it doesn't generate the code you would have written yourself, you fascist pig.
Don't change. I see people promoted into management all the time who change their personalities completely. They buy books on how to act and think, start dressing differently, on and on. Hey, you were promoted because it looked like you were good material already. Lay off the overnight reinvention. It puts off your coworkers, and it means you stand a good chance of missing the boat on what you're supposed to be doing yourself. If you really think you need to make changes, ease into them a bit at a time as specifically demonstrated by need, you six cent whore.
Buy indemnity. That version of Linux you may be running is a liability to your company. Be sure to buy a license for every CPU from SCO. It's cheap at under $700 a seat, and in your new position, you've got control over the budget to help you do it. ~Darl
Don't create meetings for no purpose
Don't attend meetings outside of the team when there is no purpose
Don't let marketing pull your team into meetings
Don't let your frustrations out on the team
Deal with the frustrations of the team
(The last two probably won't be a problem as long as there are no meetings)
Listen.. Organize.. Decide.. and most importantly lead. Listen to the members of your team as well as your customers (even if the cutomer is just your boss). Organize the work. Make sure the team knows what has to be done, who is doing it, what and when the milestones are. Make decisions. You are not in a democracy. Listen to your team, then make decisions, don't have votes. Once you make a decision, stick to it. There is nothing worse than a wishy washy leader who changes thier mind evrey day. Finally, lead. By action and by example. You are the person everyone should be going to. If you do not lead, your project willl fail, or someone else will become the defacto leader. And, as a last thought..Share the credit, take the blame.
- Do you have a pretty fair understanding of your system as a whole, even if you're not contributing code to every single aspect? (Could you, if you had to?)
- Do so many people come to you with questions that you've begun delegating them to other team resources?
- When a junior person has a question do you get up and go back to their cube and help them figure it out rather than just sighing and saying "I'll take it.."?
- When management is making a decision about what can and can't be done to the product, do they seek out your opinion?
You already are tech lead.www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
I agree with your other points. However:
Remember, that their job is not their #1 priority in life. Family life always comes first.
This depends on the employee. For some people their job is their #1 priority. In which case they will contribute more given the opportunity! It would be silly to ignore the benefits. This doesn't mean make them work 60 hour weeks, it means don't shy away from giving them responsibility (if they seem competent, anyway).
People who's job is very important to them are also likely to get peed off very quickly if they feel they are stagnating.
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
Having been in the position a couple of times, I know that I am not suited to being a team lead.
Having said that, I can point out the qualities that are really important.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
In this economy, you cannot afford to imply to your boss that you're not willing to take on more risk, more responsibility and more authority. As previously discussed on Slashdot (sorry, can't find the link, but then again, that's why I'm posting anonymously), if they offer you a chance to prove yourself, you refuse, they offer it to someone else and that person looks good, chances are you'll be stuck where you are forever while that person continues to climb the ladder and get the choice assignments.
However, as been pointed out here, it's crucial that you recognize your shortcomings and you be honest about them from the start. Tell your boss; many companies will provide extra training, allow you to take classes on their dime, or you can always check out several self-help books.
It frequently appears that way, but most companies don't need nor expect you to hit the ground running. They value someone who's willing to learn how to do the job correctly and within the context of that specific company culture, far more than some egotistic blowhard from another company who's convinced his way is the one true way and all others are just false blasphemies.
Frequently in my life I've somehow bubbled to the top of whatever group I'm stuck in for various reasons. I think the most important things are to project a feeling to your teammates that you're competent, a through thinker, and open to ideas while still having spine enough to choose between ideas and make decisions and take charge. You have to be approachable yet still set aside enough to be respected when a decision is made, and not constantly argued with. It also helps to be smart. There are other good posts in this article, but these are a couple things I'd recommend also.
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
Recognize when your employees can complete a given task. Then leave them the hell alone and let them work.
Recognize when your employees cannot complete a task, or make a deadline. Then help them. Give them the resources they need. Go to bat for them with upper management.
Good luck!
9. He was teamlead of the janitorial staff.
Management has two functions: providing leadership and removing obstacles. These should be combined in an approximate ratio of 1::10. Most managers are more like 10:1; their ratio of managing to helping is 10000x too high.
Follow this metric, and every time you set a goal, your word will carry enormous weight.
The typical manager gives instructions multiple times per day. This is bad for any team but worse for coders who need a good four or six hours uninterrupted to hit their stride. Check in every day to make sure nobody is stuck, but give direction as a rule no more than once a week unless asked.
There's a lot more to leadership than this, but it's a good starting point. Look around at your team, and mentally tote up their weekly salary. It's a lot of money, isn't it? So guard their time zealously. Protect and isoplate them from distractions, especially those that come from the pressures that are on you. They are your team to lead to success and glory, so don't let the stupidity you have to deal with leak through and steal their time.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The more experience I have dealing with 3-year olds, the easier it is to deal with engineers... there's really not much difference. Ask nicely, don't demand. Make them think they're getting their own way. Don't play favorites. Praise them, even for doing something as fundamental as crapping in the potty chair. Take them all out for ice cream once in a while. Give them the best new toys to play with, and they'll be occupied for days. Let go, and trust them to learn how to handle things themselves, or ask you for help when they can't. Protect them from the bullies.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
A lead is like a dogsled driver, particularly if you have strong, experienced developers. They are pulling the sled, not you - your job is to ensure everyone goes the same direction (toward the end goal) and that the sled doesn't tip over or fall through thin ice.
You can't understand every line of code, because you'll be busy running interference with managers and customers, so that your team can keep running.
You must constantly manage the expectations of your managers, your team, and your customers: everyone has preconceptions about your job, and most are probably wrong. Define specific boundaries on your time: how much you will code, how much design time, code review, meeting time, informal one-on-ones with team members, etc. You will probably code much less than you think.
You are the project personified. Your enthusiasm or cynicism will affect everyone involved. You must be genuine, or people will lose trust and dismiss you as a management stooge.
Don't get angry. Stay calm. Treat everyone with respect. Keep a sense of humor. If the project fails, stand up and take the bullet. But if the project succeeds, credit your team, not yourself.
A team leader is roughly the equivilant to a non-commissioned officer in the army. IMHO, you are a manager if you make policy, approve purchases and have the authority to hire & fire.
A competent and knowledgeable team leader is a mentor to his teammates and a trusted advisor to management.
A good team leader:
- Keeps the staff away from wasteful meetings
- Keeps management informed
- Is an advocate for the team
- Provides guidance when needed
- Expedities requests from other groups, purchasing, etc
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
"A leader is a man who had the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it."
- Harry Truman
I follow the SDK and GDN principles.. Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
Since I haven't seen this written already, I thought I would write a little bit about keeping high standards. IMHO, a key aspect of being a good leader is to set high standards, follow them yourself, and make sure everyone else does. You can tolerate mistakes, but don't tolerate sloppiness or laziness.
One might think that it's better to be more "accepting" than "demanding" - but I don't think it is. There's nothing more demotivating for a good worker to see someone else get away with shoddy work (and as a team leader, you'll find your team gets less done with shoddy work.) And there's nothing more motivating than a team that seems to accomplish the impossible - but that's only possible if everyone is really pulling their own weight.
So my advice is to spend some time explicitly thinking about what standards you want to set. For example, if you're leading a software team:
* Is it acceptable for someone to check in code which breaks the build?
* Is it acceptable for someone to check in code without unit tests?
* Is it acceptable if someone says that one of their tasks is "done" and it hasn't been?
There are obviously a lot more questions - When can people come in? Is arriving late a big issue? If someone is late on a task, how serious is that? - but it's best to figure out your policies up front. And then make SURE you communicate them clearly, and obviously make SURE you follow the same rules.
I've been a team lead, and a small group manager, many times in an 18 year career. The intial advice, to clarify whether you are a lead or manager, was golden.
:))
In deciding whether to take this position, I'd ask myself what the strengths and weaknesses are in your team. There are teams I'd go through hell to lead, and teams I'd take three years of crummy local database contracts to avoid. One friend of mine, many years ago, put it beautifully -- some teams seam telepathic, and others can barely communicate the time of day. Which is this?
In addition to the books listed, I'd check out anything by Steve McConnell, but especially the Software Project Survival Guide. And for contrast, Yourdon's Death March, and Wicked Problems, Righteous Solutions, by DeGrace and Stahl (if you can find it).
Are there team leads, or low level management, or other team members with lead experience (who don't want that hat right now) who you can draw on? Sometimes, a mentor is just the thing, and sometimes, just having a reality check is what makes life possible.
If this is your first team lead gig, it will shape you. Don't be shaped by a situation which is intrinsically dishonest and no win. Does the place make software that works, or do you think you have a real shot at making software that works regardless? Will you have to sacrifice your future with this place for honest treatment of other people, or the chance to actually ship? We need more good team leads, and the world is devoted to the manufacture of weasels.
Underview: I'd be highly suspicious of team lead as a carrot. I do it because I can, because I'm the senior chica, because I want the project to succeed and that's how the contributions and communications have fallen out...but as a prize? Hmmmm.
Anyway. My I go on
I would second this and add:
Delegate early and often. What I mean is don't wait to the last moment when you realise that you absolutely can't do something to delegate it.
Realise and Expect that managing/leading takes time and allocate time for it, and leave a buffer for the unexpected. Dish out the work early and take the time to follow up on the delegated work. I don't mean stand over their shoulder but a daily how's everything going, anything I should know about, need anything is a good thing. Usuallly it will be about 5 minutes a team member but LISTEN to them, makes it much more likely that you'll know about a protential snag you should be aware of much earlier.
Worse/best Team Lead/Manager ( he had both titles, was best tech but started as the worse lead) would try to do everything himself and when things would heat up he would hand off just the things that he couldn't handle himself but never follow up with the delegated things. Luckly he had a good team and seldem had to worry about the things he delegated but don't risk it. He was one of the best technical workers and was getting better at leading... probably much better now... he did have a knack for learning...
One of the largest problems that new team leads have is transitioning from the person being asked to do the work to the one having to delegate. Often the new lead compensates for a project running behind by trying to do the work himself. This only leads to more stess, a mismanaged project and falling further behind. As far as traits there are many and few people have them all. Recognize your strengths and work those to your advantage. In general a good team lead can organize well, set goals, create plans to obtain those goals, monitor progress, motivate the team members, and most importantly can clear roadblocks so team members can focus on the task at hand. One other handy note is to not be afraid of failure. Failures will happen but what makes a truly great leader is one that accepts responsibility for the failure and helps the team bounce back.
I've been both a Team lead, and a Manager - team lead can be FUN - I'm serious. If you get the team to "Gel" (Read Peopleware for the concept), it's great
Remember the following
1)ALL the people on your team have their own unique strengths and weaknesses
2)Often, people want to work where they are weak, so they can learn - LET them, but team them with the person who is a good teacher in that area - But, you also use them to mentor where they are strong
3)Praise the PERSON publicly, and give guidance (aka, NOT critisim) in private - show the person what went wrong, but don't blame
4)NEVER under estimate the power of SWAG. I was a team lead in a place where almost all the developers had this passion for oatmeal cookies from the downstairs bakery (all except one guy who loved M&Ms - plain, not peanut). When someone wrote a good rountine, put on a good demo, or whatever, I'd go downstairs, buy them a cookie, write a small note of thanks (often just a "thanks" signed), and leave the bagged cookie on their desk when they were out at lunch. You'd be surprised what that cookie ment to people. They also KNEW it wasn't in the company budget, so it was coming out of my pocket. Pretty soon, folks just KNEW that if they saw a cookie on their desk, it was my way of saying "Thank you for your hard work"
5)Spend time answering questions. Typically, Friday afternoons, around 4:00, I'd wander over towards the heart of the cube area (I was at one side), and start BSing with the team. We'd all end up sitting on various desks, leaning over walls, etc, discussing good ideas, what went right, what went wrong, cool stuff we read in some programming journal, odd bugs from previous projects, and sometimes the weather, food or whatever. That 45 minutes on Fridays was "free for all", and we all talked what was on our minds. Often it ended up with the 3 team leads, and all 3 teams, sitting around talking about programming. The GOOD part was the manager would never come by - if he did, he'd leave within a minute or two
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso