The Tech Lead Gambit

Tech leads are usually mid-to-senior software developers that run point on a particular team or project. They take on responsibility for the delivery of projects, the interfacing with other business units, the output of teammates and, at times, even aspects of the daily management of those teammates. They are however not considered managers, don’t hold hire-and-fire power over anyone, and are rarely compensated for their trouble beyond the standard IC pay scale.

So why would anyone accept this Dwight Schrutian, Assistant to the Regional Manager gambit? There can be reasons. The role can be a temporary stepping stone, helping aspiring managers get their bearings and test the waters without losing face in a potential retreat, and it’s the kind of lukewarm, off-the-books promotion toward which managers with little conviction gravitate.

Unfortunately for these newly-minted tech leads, their toil won’t turn into much ability. Their only hope is that the role really proves temporary and their supervisor finds enough faith in them to promote them to Manager. People management is an uncharted discipline that can barely be learned by reading (I would know, I’ve tried) or by osmosis; it has to be learned by doing (and failing). Hiring, firing, helping people perform and grow, and supporting them in fording life events professionally can only be done by wielding power over them, for better or worse. Anything less and you are spinning wheels, spending your time being a go-between for a manager who doesn’t want to delegate but also doesn’t have the time to fully manage either, and their report who can’t quite tell if they have two managers or none.

Having the ultimate say on whether someone is coming back tomorrow, whether they get the project you know they want, the day off they are hoping for, or the raise they think they deserve is a big responsibility. Delivering feedback on how well they do what they do for a living, about the craft some feel defines them as a person, is genuinely heavy. Not in a power trip way—grrr, trust me, you will feel like a god!—but in an it’s a huge, serious responsibility that often sucks kind of way.

That weight also does something useful: handled justly and perceived so, it builds trust and a relationship through which you can actually coach people toward the performance and growth they’re after.