Great post! One thing that I'm missing is: Know the Business. When I think about Teach Lead I imagine an experienced developer with leadership skills and ability to translate business requirements into code and architecture. I believe that the biz element is crucial to succeeding and often forgotten. Without business value, in IT projects we end up with great, scalable apps with an amazing performance that nobody uses because it doesn't respond to business needs. Tech Lead is a person in the best position to connect both worlds and deliver with the team products that are loved and used.
All things software & product, honestly - FrontEnd, BackEnd, DevOps, ML - as long as we're solving massive problems.
My code is used by millions of users globally - Potatoes make me happy
Hey Krzysztof, thanks for the feedback. I'm struggling with how I feel about the statement of needing to know the business that you and Vaibha are suggesting.
On one hand, you're right, someone needs to have an understanding of the business to translate the client request into firm requirements. But I have been fortunate enough to work on a team with either a seasoned project lead or a business analyst who can make that translation for us.
The tech lead is definitely a "bridge", and I think that the size of the company/project team is going to define what that bridge connects.
If you are the direct connection between the development team and the business, then I agree with you 100%.
If you are acting as the connection between the PM/BA and the development team, then your skill set is useful outside the particular business vertical you're currently working in.
You are right, PM/AM are the first when you think about connection between tech and biz. But maybe I'm a bit radical with this :D
I think that when we keep Devs away from biz, it's expected they deliver tickets and not valuable feature. When we keep both parties siloed with only one person as link dinner or later he will become a bottleneck. When we have a team that understands biz requirements and tech lead can prioritize and evaluate it there a more chances to scale and collaborate.
Great post! One thing that I'm missing is: Know the Business. When I think about Teach Lead I imagine an experienced developer with leadership skills and ability to translate business requirements into code and architecture. I believe that the biz element is crucial to succeeding and often forgotten. Without business value, in IT projects we end up with great, scalable apps with an amazing performance that nobody uses because it doesn't respond to business needs. Tech Lead is a person in the best position to connect both worlds and deliver with the team products that are loved and used.
Agreed, i'd probably add Know the Business to the top as well! Acting as the bridge! Good post nonetheless :)
Hey Krzysztof, thanks for the feedback. I'm struggling with how I feel about the statement of needing to know the business that you and Vaibha are suggesting.
On one hand, you're right, someone needs to have an understanding of the business to translate the client request into firm requirements. But I have been fortunate enough to work on a team with either a seasoned project lead or a business analyst who can make that translation for us.
The tech lead is definitely a "bridge", and I think that the size of the company/project team is going to define what that bridge connects.
If you are the direct connection between the development team and the business, then I agree with you 100%.
If you are acting as the connection between the PM/BA and the development team, then your skill set is useful outside the particular business vertical you're currently working in.
You are right, PM/AM are the first when you think about connection between tech and biz. But maybe I'm a bit radical with this :D
I think that when we keep Devs away from biz, it's expected they deliver tickets and not valuable feature. When we keep both parties siloed with only one person as link dinner or later he will become a bottleneck. When we have a team that understands biz requirements and tech lead can prioritize and evaluate it there a more chances to scale and collaborate.
Those are some great points! I hope to work in such a closely integrated team.