Tips & Tricks for Being a Successful Tech Lead

1. Tips & Tricks for Being a Successful Tech Lead Ben Limmer

2. – Patrick Kua Author of "Talking with Tech Leads: From Novices to Practitioners" “A tech lead is a developer who is a leader.”

3. DISCLAIMER

4. Programming People Process Project

5. Project what problem are we trying to solve?

6. The Project • Identify • the goals, non-goals and anti-goals • the stakeholders • the risks • any unclear requirements

7. Goals, Non-Goals and Anti-Goals • Goals • What do we want to make (better)? • Non-Goals • What is out-of-scope for this project? • Anti-Goals • What could happen that would make the situation worse?

8. Stakeholders • They can tell us if we're on track with what we're building • They help deﬁne success & accept milestones • Do they change over time?

9. Risks • What are the technical risks of this project? • Stakeholders help prioritize risk • Is there another, less-risky way of accomplishing the goals?

10. Unclear Requirements • Identify them early • Provide context and information that can help clarify • If we can't clarify them... • Do we need more data? • Can we move the decision out until later?

11. What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

12. – Eric Ries Creator of the Lean Startup Methodology “A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future development.”

13. What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? • What is the smallest thing we can build to prove out that we're on the right track? • Get something out quickly and iterate • Are we starting to make progress on our goals?

14. What is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? • Often times all requirements feel "MVP" • It's a bit of an art to break up requirements • Identify what can move out to fast-follow releases • Custom administration • Supporting behaviors • Tech Debt Cleanup / Refactoring * • What are the MVP workarounds?

15. Example MVP Scoping

16. single-page app setup workﬂow analytics script trigger dynamoDB storage spark jobAPI service brazeboy reporting kill switch anonymous / user creation tracing website implementation reporting interface "it needs to..."

17. single-page app setup workﬂow analytics script trigger dynamoDB storage spark job API service brazeboy reporting kill switch anonymous / user creation tracing website implementation reporting interface MVP Phase 2 Beyond

18. analytics script trigger dynamoDB storage spark job API service MVP

19. single-page app setup workﬂow analytics script trigger dynamoDB storage spark job API service appboy reporting kill switch anonymous / user creation tracing website implementation reporting interface MVP Phase 2 Beyond

20. Phase 2 appboy reporting kill switch

21. Phase 2 appboy reporting kill switch 🤔 Minimum Desirable Product?

22. single-page app setup workﬂow analytics script trigger dynamoDB storage spark job API service appboy reporting kill switch anonymous / user creation tracing website implementation reporting interface MVP Phase 2 Beyond

23. People how do we leverage our team?

24. People • Leverage diﬀerent experience • Be available • Be communicative • Be explicit

25. Leverage Different Experience • Diversity of backgrounds at Ibotta • Ask for opinions • Ask for background / historical information • Challenge teammates to push themselves • Delegate research / implementation details • Listen to diﬀerent ideas; be aware of "Be Like Me" Syndrome

26. Be Available • You will write less code while you're tech leading • Time management • Review PRs quickly • Answer any questions • Pair / Whiteboard • Handle issues as they come up

27. Urgent Not Urgent Important Do it Decide when to do it Not Important Delegate it Delete it * Eisenhower Matrix

28. Be Communicative • You are the face of the technical implementation of the project • Make sure everyone's aware of project status • Stakeholders • Developers • Other Tech Leaders • Know Your Audience

29. Be Explicit • Don't assume; if in doubt, talk about it! • Titles (EM, PM, Tech Lead) vary by company • "Who is the tech lead?"

30. Programming how do we build software to solve the problem?

31. Programming • Read • Brainstorm • Prototype • Present and Listen

32. Read • Third Party Docs • Legacy Code • Living Design Docs • Documentation mode for specs • Find the seams • OSS Examples • Find patterns in the absence of legacy code • Take Notes

33. Brainstorm • What are the different options? • Pros / Cons • Differing Levels of Effort • Parallelizability • Plan to continuously integrate and deploy • Feature Flags • Rollout Plans

34. Brainstorm • Plan out the escape hatches • How do we turn it oﬀ if needed? How will we know if it needs to be turned oﬀ? • What if the option we choose doesn't work - can we reuse anything?

35. Prototypes • Tackle the hard stuﬀ ﬁrst in a prototype • Make it throw-away

36. Present & Listen • Include... • The people working on the code • At least one other tech leader • Send out background material early • Propose options, be ﬂexible • Decide on next steps

37. Process how do we execute the plan?

38. Process • Documentation • Stories • Communication • Iteration Progression • Iteration Finalization / Retro

39. Documentation • Extremely helpful to... • Communicate decisions made • Provide living design docs • Reiterate the "why" • Provide visual representations of the solution

40. Project Conﬂuence Page • One-Stop for all the project info • Product Briefs • Diagrams • MVP Descriptions / Decisions • Breakdown of phased rollouts • Example

41. Stories • Are owned by the team • Help with team buy-in on the project • Write stories from high-level design docs • Identify cases you didn't think about • Deﬁnition of done

42. Communication • Decide how to call out issues and risk we didn't originally consider • Decide the checkpoints for stakeholders • Add additional resources for communication • Standups / Check ins / Slack Room

43. Iteration Progression • Make sure we're on track • Consider the timeline • Do we need to re-scope or reconsider MVP? • Are there risks to be prioritized by the stakeholders? • Beware of external events that might aﬀect the project

44. Iteration Finalization / Retro • Are we done? • Did we hit our goals? What about anti-goals? • Did we complete all necessary fast-follow work / feature ﬂag cleanup? • What do we move to next? • Safe-Space Retro • Are people happy with the solution we built? • Did everyone have the information needed? • What could I do (better) next time?

45. Programming People Process Project

46. every project is different and people have different leadership styles

47. you will make mistakes

48. * Credit Patrick Kua's "What I Wish I Knew as a First Time Tech Lead"

49. Resources to Help • Your Peers • Your EM • Other tech leaders • Development Lifecycle Best-Practices

50. thanks! let's have a group discussion with the remaining time