The hardest thing, whatever it is you do, is trying to find your style. Whether it’s drawing, writing, coding, biking, exercising, building, fixing, leading, coaching, or juggling (the list goes on forever and ever in anything you do). But rooted in everything you do, is your style, it’s no one else’s, it’s yours only. Not everyone will agree with it, they might think it’s weird or off, it might not line up with their style.…
There are going to be days when you are completely outmatched. The work you’re up against is that much better than what you are creating. The team you are competing against has been to the rodeo before and knows all the tricks. That’s okay, the fact that you’re here, in this moment attempting to level up, that’s what matters and is more important than anything.
Feedback is great, but should never be relied upon without context in place. The context is what was going on surrounding that particular item. It’s the work that was going on at that point in time. It’s the goals that were trying to be achieved but might not have worked. Feedback is incredibly useful, but only if everything surrounding the feedback is understood.
If you’re in a room and everyone is staring back at you blankly, you’re not all on the same page. If you’ve just had a call and discussed half a dozen ideas with no confirmation as to who is doing what, you’re not all on the same page. You can tell the teams that are on the same page from afar, they are all working together, each person knowing their part and role that is…
Team Leads and Tech Leads are two critical roles in any software development team. But go from team to team and you’ll find the roles and what is required of them are drastically different. Here’s my take on the difference between a great Tech and Team Lead.