If you’ve been promoted from developer to team lead, congratulations! Making the jump from developer to team lead is no small change. Your role is changing from being productive into a role of increasing the production capability of your team. It’s no longer about asking what can I do? Now, you’ll ask yourself how can I help others to increase productivity?

This is going to be a huge mental shift. As a leader, it’s not about you. It’s about helping others and moving them toward the end goal for your business.

What Does a Lead Developer Do?

The main responsibility of the team lead is to make sure the technology is in line with the business goals and objectives. The lead developer will translate the business objectives into actionable steps and tasks for the development team, all while guiding and mentoring the team to make sure those tasks get completed. You will act as a software development guide for your team, and the go-between to upper management.

Five Things They Don’t Tell You When You’re Promoted From Dev to Team Lead

1. You’ll spend more time managing people AND writing code.

It’s a misconception that the lead developer will spend more time managing people than writing code. In order to be a great leader, you need to spend time acquiring skills to become a better engineer, while learning about leadership and enhancing those leadership skills, as well.

You have to become a better version of yourself in order to inspire and help others. Dedicate yourself to improving your own skills so you can help others. How are you going to inspire someone with something you don’t have? 

As Lead Developer, your focus should shift to include the people and the processes at your company, not just the technology. Take the time to nurture your developers and help them grow. Focus on the 3 most important qualities in a great developer:

1. 1. Problem-solving ability. A great developer is someone with exceptional problem-solving skills.

   2. Taking the time to understand your company. A great developer must understand your company’s goals and challenges.

   3. Excellent communication and team-playing abilities. A great developer fits in with both the specific team they are assigned to and the overall organizational culture.

2. You need to think about strategy more than tactics.

Strategy is important because that’s where you’re going to focus on your end goal; if you don’t know the end goal, how will you plot the road to get there? Without a strategy, you will quickly fall into the “build a feature” trap – where you’re constantly chasing something that might be a useful tool, without having a clear objective behind that tool.

Ask yourself how each line of code is going to tie into revenue generation or cost reduction. What is the benefit to your organization; productivity, ease of use? You need to be able to accomplish a job for your end-user while maintaining a sustainable level of production for your own team. If you don’t know where you’re going if you don’t have a clear strategy – there’s no way to pace yourself and ensure you get there.

3. Culture matters, and you’re responsible for it.

Anyone in a leadership position sets an example: how you conduct yourself with your team is how your team members will conduct themselves with other members of your organization.

If you don’t have a balanced approach where everyone feels safe to contribute, grow, and offer ideas free of criticism or punishment, then you’re creating an unproductive atmosphere. If you create an environment where everyone has a voice and the opportunity to succeed, you’re creating the synergy necessary for a high-performance team.

Creating a successful company culture is pivotal in creating an environment where developers are inspired, motivated, and act cohesively as a team. Everyone should have the opportunity to feel like they’re making a difference, and it’s up to you to give them the capacity, confidence, and engagement opportunities to do so. 

4. You need to destroy obstacles for your team.

One of the biggest points you should understand when you’re promoted from software developer to team lead is that the Lead Developer’s job is not just to delegate tasks. As the Lead Developer, your job is to remove obstacles so your team can work well without any distractions.

By removing obstacles, you are removing the friction that can slow your developers down. Friction can come from any number of sources, but consider common issues like:

• Lack of tools
• Improper/outdated equipment
• Budgetary worries/constraints

Many leaders can inadvertently sabotage their team’s productivity by creating friction themselves. Don’t get in your team’s way by introducing friction through micromanagement, lack of trust, and other poor leadership tactics. 

5. You’re a translator now.

It’s your job to translate development problems, objectives, and achievements into actionable data your c-suite can understand. It all ties back to how these development tasks relate to the financial impact on the organization.

Ask yourself why you’re doing this. Are you trying to increase revenue, reduce operational costs, or make more efficient use of resources? Are these tasks meant to improve customer retention, or used to attract new customers? You must have a strong understanding of what you’re building in order to tie it back to the time and financial impact of your organization.

Conclusion

If you’ve been promoted from developer to team lead, the most important thing you can do is focus on self-improvement first. Understand where you can improve – communication skills, management skills, people skills, time management, and technical skills. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, but you do need to know how to find the answers. 

Schedule 15 minutes with A.J. to see how PlatformPlus® can help you lead with confidence!