

How to be the Boss Your Team Deserves: Stop Coding - marcuscreo
http://marcusblankenship.com/post/56101832690/how-to-be-the-boss-your-team-deserves-stop-coding

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kelnos
I'll preface this by saying that different companies have different
management/team structures and expectations. So this draws from my own
experience, and is likely a bit different than the OP's situation.

In my particular case, I'm a team lead, but not a manager. My manager is also
the direct manager of everyone on my team. He's the "people" manager, and
spends no time coding. He's expected to be technical, but not actually build
things.

I would be very sad if I didn't get to write (production) code. It's just one
of the things I want to do. But I also want to play a role in deciding what we
build, as well as tackling architecture and design problems, which I can't do
particularly effectively (if at all) as a non-lead.

Having said that, I likely _do_ code more than I should. I could be spending
more time doing code reviews and helping the people on my team be more
successful at what they're doing. I've been thinking about all this for a
while, but I haven't really done much about it. Reading this article has given
me a bit of a kick to revisit all this.

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marcuscreo
I understand completely. I was actually quite sad at first, and it took me
about 9 months to make the mental transition.

I also appreciated that being a Team Lead gave my design ideas a larger voice,
and more credibility, than it had before. I spent time learning how to better
sell my ideas, which ended up being a valuable skill as well.

I'm glad you found it useful!

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darkchasma
The two tasks aren't mutually exclusive. If you can only do one, then that's
fine, there isn't anything wrong with that. But leadership has nothing to do
with a title, so if you weren't leading before you took a leadership role,
then of course you're going to struggle.

~~~
marcuscreo
In more formal organizations, leadership _is_ connected to title, from a
"Formal authority" perspective. I can't imagine trying to be _great_ at both
cutting code and managing coders, so for me making the choice was necessary.

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nhance
This has been one of the hardest moves to make. I love how you captured how
difficult and scary it can be to make a move like this.

Great article.

~~~
marcuscreo
Thanks!

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marcuscreo
Summary: If you're leading a development team, stop coding and focus on being
a great boss!

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twiceaday
> and over the next 4 years I would _loose_ the “Junior” prefix

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GabrielF00
Also:

> others could use any lessor editor

> spent nights and weekends readin the Progress 4GL manuals

And that's just in the first two paragraphs.

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marcuscreo
GabrielF00, err... thanks. I clearly rushed to publish too soon.. ;-(

~~~
GabrielF00
To clarify, since you fixed one of these but not the other, a lessor is a
landlord. Lesser means not as good.

