The skills you learn as a developer do nothing to prepare you for leading teams. When you suddenly find yourself in an Architect or a Tech Lead role, you're winging it, unsure about what the role entails and what skills you need. Find out how you can better prepare yourself for the unexpected.

1. @ p a t k u a
TECH LEAD SKILLS FOR
DEVELOPERS

2. WHY DO WE NEED A
TECH LEAD?

5. ?

6. 6
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcarlbom/3468358859/

7. THINK THIS DOESN’T
HAPPEN IN THE REAL
WORLD?

8. Julianboot
@thejayfields: I had ten guys on my
last project, all of them had opinions
and all of them were expressed in the
code base #speakerconf
Source: http://twitter.com/julianboot/status/232830267822309376

9. A SIMPLE TEST FOR AN
EFFECTIVE TECH LEAD...

10. Does the codebase look like it was
written by a single person?
Yes No

11. WHAT DOES A GOOD
TECH LEAD FOCUS ON?

12. ProgrammingP
PeopleP
ProcessP
Programming
People
Process

13. PROGRAMMING

14. PROGRAMMING
Do effective Technical Leaders need to code?
DEFINITELY

15. Do effective Technical Leaders need to code?
DEFINITELY
At least 30%of
the time with the team
PROGRAMMING

16. ...respect is the currency
of the realm
PROGRAMMING
The amount of respect an IT
pro pays someone is a
measure of how tolerable that
person is when it comes to
getting things done...
http://bit.ly/15Rm4z

17. Consistency over Cleverness
PROGRAMMING

18. PROGRAMMING

19. PROGRAMMING

20. PROGRAMMING

21. PROGRAMMING

22. PROGRAMMING
There are more important
topics to spend time on...

23. Team Culture
PROGRAMMING

24. Team Culture
How long does the build
stay broken? Do people avoid
conflict?
Do people offer
new ideas?
Do people flag when
they need help?Do people feel okay to
admit being wrong?
PROGRAMMING

25. PROGRAMMING
Vision

26. PEOPLE

27. PEOPLE
Strength in Diversity

28. PEOPLE

29. Fortune 500 companies with 3 or more women on the Board gain a
significant performance advantage over those with the fewest
PEOPLE
Return on Sales
73%
Return on Equity Return on
Invested Capital
83%
112%
Source: Catalyst (2007) http://bit.ly/nEEfGX

30. “...over the past six years, companies with at least some female
board representation outperformed those with no women on the
board in terms of share price performance.”
PEOPLE
Return on Equity
12% 16%
Return on Equity
Source: Credit Suisse Research Institute (August 2012) http://bit.ly/Oozuvl

31. Collective Accuracy = Average Accuracy + Diversity*
PEOPLE
* Requires ability to integrate

32. TRUST ISN’T BUILT
IN ONE DAY
https://www.flickr.com/photos/create-learning/3676366324/sizes/o/

33. PEOPLE
Growing People

34. PEOPLE
Skill/AbilityLOW HIGH
ChallengeHIGHLOW
Source: Csikszentmihalyi, Flow (1990)

35. PEOPLE
Skill/AbilityLOW HIGH
ChallengeHIGHLOW
Anxiety
Source: Csikszentmihalyi, Flow (1990)

36. PEOPLE
Skill/AbilityLOW HIGH
ChallengeHIGHLOW
Source: Csikszentmihalyi, Flow (1990)
Boredom

37. PEOPLE
Skill/AbilityLOW HIGH
ChallengeHIGHLOW
Anxiety
Boredom
Csikszentmihalyi, "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" (1990)
Flow

38. PEOPLE
Maximising Potential

39. PEOPLE
39
Skills

40. PEOPLE
40
Skills
Strengths

41. PEOPLE
41
Skills
StrengthsGoals

42. PEOPLE
42
Skills
StrengthsGoals
Interests

43. PEOPLE
43
Skills
StrengthsGoals
Interests
Sweet
Spot

44. PEOPLE
44
Skills
StrengthsGoals
Interests

45. PEOPLE
Learning Activities
Brown Bag
sessions
Spike
Showcases
Team code
reviews
Technical
Retrospectives
Pair Programming
Video/
Book Club

46. PEOPLE
“Bad Is Stronger Than Good” (2001) Baumeister et al
Beware the bad apple

47. PROCESS

48. PROCESS
Is it okay to tell
people what to do?
YES
but only sometimes

49. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP MODEL
HighDirecting BehaviourLow
High
SupportingBehaviour
Supporting
Coaching
Directing
Delegating

50. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP MODEL
HighDirecting BehaviourLow
High
SupportingBehaviour
Supporting
Coaching
Directing
Delegating

51. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP MODEL
Developing
Development level of an individual
Developed
Low competence
High commitment
Low-some
competence
Low commitmentVariable commitment
Moderate-high
competence
High commitment
High competence

52. PROCESS
Tuckman’s Model

53. TUCKMAN’S STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

54. PROCESS
Essentially, all models are
wrong, but some are useful.
—George E. P. Box

55. PROCESS
Make time for you

56. 56http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbeo52/5062096969/sizes/l/

57. 57https://www.flickr.com/photos/sushicam/5584789234/sizes/o/

58. PROCESS
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
9AM
6PM
Email
Time
Planning
Time
Email
Time
1:1s
Email
Time
Planning
Time
Next week
planning
Email
Time

59. CONCLUDING
THOUGHTS

60. For questions:
PATRICK KUA
@patkua
THANK YOU