zlib.pub_the-managers-path-a-guide-for-tech-leaders-navigating-growth-and-change

The alpha geek tries to create a culture of excellence, but ends up creating a culture of fear.

Alpha geeks make absolutely terrible managers, unless they can learn to let go of their identity as the smartest person in the room and most technical person on the team.

What you measure, you improve.

they need to be recognized for the work they put in, and the mentor should be treated as a first-class citizen with respect to other responsibilities the person might have.

give people the best mentor for their situation.

Developing patience and empathy is an important part of the career path of anyone working in a team-based environment.

When we close our minds and stop learning, we start to lose the most valuable skill for maintaining and growing a successful technical career.

It’s hard to see patterns when the only data points you have are your own experiences.

mentoring forces you to hone your communication skills. It requires you to practice listening, in particular, because if you can’t hear the questions you’re being asked, you’ll never be able to provide good answers.

To work successfully with a newcomer or a more junior teammate, you must be able to listen and communicate in a way that person can understand, even if you have to try several times to get it right.

Software development is a team sport in most companies, and teams have to communicate effectively to get anything done.

For one, I was more than just a good engineer. I was a good communicator. I could write clear documents, I could give presentations without melting down, and I could talk to people in different teams and different roles and explain what was going on.

I was also good at prioritizing. I was eager to push work forward and decide what needed to be done next.

I was willing to pick up the pieces and do what needed to be done to make progress.

The tech lead role, after all, is a leadership position, even when it’s not a management position.

recognize that story, because it happens everywhere.

Tech lead is not the job for the person who wants the freedom to focus deeply on the details of her own code. A tech lead who does this is not doing her job.

My job as tech lead was to continue to write code, but with the added responsibilities of representing the group to management, vetting our plans for feature delivery, and dealing with a lot of the details of the project management process.

we know from the title that it is expected to be both a technical position and a leadership role, and that it is often a temporary set of responsibilities rather than a permanent title.

The tech lead role is not a point on the ladder, but a set of responsibilities that any engineer may take on once they reach the senior level. This role may or may not include people management, but if it does, the tech lead is expected to manage these team members to the high management standards of RTR tech.