2. TECH LEAD ROLE
1
Owns the Technical Vision
Collaborate with track leads on the technology vision of the release
Joined at the hip with the release PM
Create models and assess alternative approaches
Prepare compelling architectural artifacts and presentations
Take a holistic system viewpoint
Subdivide a complex application, during the design phase, into smaller,
more manageable pieces
Grasp the functions of each component within the Enterprise
Understand and designs the interactions and dependencies among components
Communicate these concepts to developers and team leads
4. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT TECH LEAD
3
Visionary You must be able to articulate a convincing portrait of the future and of
how to get there. Leadership is about change, because anyone can preside over a bunch of
people milling around going nowhere. To lead change, you have to present a compelling
vision of the new reality (notice we used reality and not future here) because your role is not
just about envisioning the future, but modeling the way and making the process of achieving it
seem exciting and worthwhile. Being visionary means several other foundational traits – you
are creative, inquisitive, investigative, tolerant of ambiguity, and excellent at working at an
abstract level. Modeling the way means you make the time and personal commitment to get
your hands dirty – you truly “own” the designs and you are in the code.
Pragmatic Your day-to-day decision making must be grounded in reality. If you
indulge in wishful thinking about the practicality of your solution or the capabilities of your
team, or for that matter, use excessive cynicism while attempting to play it safe, sooner more
often than later, your decisions won't be accepted and if they are, they will result in failure.
Don’t do it. Be practical, authentic and real. Understand what you don’t know as well. The key
determinant of pragmatism is being able to see from and sell to multiple viewpoints and to use
this perspective to inform your views and decisions.
5. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT TECH LEAD
4
People person A lot of your job is motivation, and to motivate people you have to
understand them, empathize with them and know what creates a win for them as individuals
within the result that is the solution we are building. You are sensitive to where the power is on
your team and within your client organization. Not just the political or economic power as
determined by title or who signs the check, but also the people with emotional and intellectual
power. You tend to leverage emotional and intellectual power yourself, preferring these over
political power.
Sensitive to nonsense You need a state-of-the-art nonsense detector to wade through
all the inaccurate, incomplete and sometimes misleading information that will inundate you
every day. Your nonsense detector must avoid what statisticians call Category 1 nonsense
and Category 2 nonsense errors. You encounter a Category 1 error when you fail to recognize
nonsense. You experience a Category 2 error when you mistake something legitimate for
nonsense.
6. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT ARCHITECT
5
An incredible delegator In the end, your longevity in your role and career success
depends entirely on the delivery of high quality working systems and the technical leaders you
help grow. This means giving your best technical people assignments, getting them to make
commitments and live up to them. And inspiring your full team towards nothing short of
excellence. While this may seem basic, this ability is exceptionally rare. You have realized that
you are an effective delegator because you are also a great teacher and coach.
A kid in a toyshop You personally preside over stuff that would have made
Issac Asimov faint dead away in astonishment. The technology we design, install and
manage, with all its warts, zits and bugs, was unimagined when you were born. This is really
cool stuff. Your team members, or at least the best of them, get paid for their hobby. They do
this stuff because it’s way cool. So should you, because otherwise why would you put yourself
through this? There are easier ways to make a living, and unless you have a passion for the
technology and what it can do, you’ll hate your job, you’ll disparage the people who make you
succeed, and in a very short period of time, you’ll fail.
Passionate about Quality and Excellence You personally live and drive
your team towards excellence, painting a passionate vision for what Quality means, and
inspiring your team to practice Quality behaviors daily
7. TEAM LEAD ROLE IN DETAIL
6
Own the process of your project and ensure the highest quality construction
Own the work approach and estimation metrics
Be relevant and contribute to the technology roadmap
Ask questions and be inquisitive across tracks
Identify technical skills gaps and ensure they get filled, in some cases by personally
conducting training
Write exemplary code, and teach others to do so
Be in the details – trust and verify
Troubleshoot and solve thorny technical issues
Perform root cause analysis and implement mitigation plans to avoid recurrence
Inform priorities among competing demands on the technical team time
Minimize waste
8. TEAM LEAD ROLE IN DETAIL
7
Understand and communicate the impact of changes on the solution and work effort
Lead from the trenches, above, and everywhere in between
Communicate effectively with your PM, Tech lead and team
Sell the technical and quality vision and keep it alive
Listen and take the pulse of your team and technical clients
Be a trusted adviser to your internal client
Be a role model for the technologists on your team
Help developers and internal clients see the value of architecture and quality processes
Motivate your team to strive for quality and efficiency in everything they do
9. TECH LEAD ROLE IN A PROJECT
8
Release Kick off
• Collaborate with PM
on a detailed plan for
Requirements &
Design phase
- Refine release
duration and capacity
assessment
Requirements
Analysis and Design
• Understand BRD
• Review and
collaborate on
technical design
document
• Refine story list and
Dev. estimate w BA
& PM and assist on
detailed plan for
development phase
Development & Testing
• Guide development of Stories
• Guide Code Review including Peer Reviews
• Review project progress with PM and callout potential risks to
timeline
• Provide options to coding problems to get project back on track
Release
Testing:
• Participate
in defect
prioritizatio
n and
complex
bug
resolution
Dev. Kick off with PM:
• Review/refine dev.
story list and Estimates
• Refine Resource
Capacity vs. Scope
Refinement
Release End
Retrospective:
• Retrospect the
completed release
using a checklist
• Receive feedback
from business teams
• Collect information
that will inform
planning for the next
Release
Release
Demo:
• Demo for
Business
Users
• Identify
blockers
for UAT
Release Prep:
• Tech and track leads
identified
• Participate in High
Level effort
assessment w PM
Release
Prep
Finish
Week 4 Week 8 Week 11
Requirements Analysis & Design Development & Testing Release
Testing
UAT
Release Kick off
Development Kick Off
Release Demo Cut Over
Release End Retrospective
Begin Next Release
Pre-Work
Week 1
UAT Kickoff
Requirements
• Collaborate and guide
requirements gathering
and documentation with
SA and or BA if needed
