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The Tech Lead role

Introduction#

This section is for people who are new to leading a team, about to step into the role, or wondering whether it is for them. Where the rest of the handbook focuses on the team and how it works, this section focuses on the role itself and on you: what a Tech Lead does, how the role differs from the one you had before, how to adjust to it, and how to keep developing as a leader once you are in it.

Most Tech Leads come to the role as strong engineers. That is a good foundation, because technical judgement and credibility still matter. But leading asks for different things.

What changes when you lead#

  • Leading, not just managing. A Tech Lead role includes an element of management, but the emphasis is on leadership: setting direction, nurturing the culture, and bringing people with you. The title gives you accountability but not automatic influence. See leadership and management.
  • Acting through others. Your contribution comes less from what you do yourself and more from what the team achieves with your help. That means helping the team make decisions rather than making them all yourself, and staying technical without getting in the way. See changing behaviours.
  • Measuring success by the team’s outcomes. Success becomes less tangible and less immediate: a happy, resilient team of people who are developing, with a process that works. See what success looks like.
  • Using different skills. Listening, coaching, communicating, resolving disagreement, and caring for the wellbeing of the people in your team are skills that engineering work rarely exercises. See the skills you will need and the People section.

Few people have all of these on day one, and that is normal. They can be learned, and this section aims to help.

Don’t Panic

You don’t need to have everything worked out before you start in a lead role. Nobody does.

In this section#

  • What is a Tech Lead? explains what every Tech Lead role has in common, the main ways it varies between organisations, and how to agree what it means for you.
  • Starting to lead explains the difference between leadership and management, how the role changes as you progress, what success looks like, the skills and behaviours to develop, and how to approach your first few weeks.

Where next#

Once you have found your feet, the rest of the handbook goes deeper.