What do you expect from your technical leaders?
- What do you expect from the technical leaders in your company? - What makes them good leaders? What makes them bad leaders? - Tell a good or bad experience you had with one of your technical leaders. What happened? What was good or bad? How could they have done it differently? - What would you like that your leaders in tech did more? - Can anyone recommend resources to study to be a strong leader in tech? (I’m referring to “leaders in tech” as any person in a leadership role with a majority technical aspect tied to their role)
Good leaders shield their team members from unnecessary political stuff. Instead of focusing solely on what management wants, good leaders focus on what their team needs. Good leaders give space and challenges to best performers on the team and try their best to coach and improve everyone else. They also work hard to help you improve your career and help you make good choices. Most importantly, good leaders view their team members as a valuable resource they can nurture, protect, and grow. Bad leaders view their team as just another stepping stone on the way to their next promotion. Years ago I had a month or two of severe, awful insomnia. Could not sleep. Missed work all the time. My manager could have put me on PIP or stressed me out by threatening me with a bad review because I was hurting his team’s metrics. But my manager took the long view since I knew I was having a rough time. He gave me the space I deeply needed and I came roaring back and performed well. Not just that; but he was a genuinely good human being I’ll always have respect for. He’s also had an insanely successful career BECAUSE he is such a good manager and his teams perform so well. He deserves his success and I wish there were more leaders out there like him.
Definitely a balance. But focusing too much on what the team need can end up with you getting canned.
Maybe at Oath 😜 Yeah it’s a balance. But a great leader will find a way whenever possible from what I’ve seen.
Good leaders aren’t manufactured they become good leaders through perseverance and failure—or success. Although you learn more through failure. Everyone wants to be a good leader before learning how to be led. Want to be a good leader on a technical team? Then take the shit like the rest of us for a couple of years, learn to see ahead and make sure to throw in some courage when it’s all said and done.
Great insight! Thanks. I’ve been a leader in sports at national team level for many years and I am a technical lead with 13 yoe. I want to expand my perspectives and hopefully people will share their side. I’m sure I have a lot to learn from people and their experiences.