Chapter 1 · Practice 3 of 4
Keep coding, but stay off the critical path
From Define the role
Why it matters
Writing code keeps your judgment grounded and your credibility with the team. But a tech lead is interrupted constantly by reviews, questions and meetings. If you take the most urgent, most complex task, it becomes the task most likely to be late.
Good work for a tech lead to pick up:
- Prototypes and spikes that reduce risk before the team commits.
- Tooling and developer experience improvements that speed everyone up.
- Small fixes and cleanups that do not block anyone.
- Pairing on hard problems, with someone else driving.
Hand the critical-path work to someone who can focus on it, and support them.
Do
- Take on spikes, tooling and pairing
- Hand critical-path tasks to people with focus time
Avoid
- Owning the riskiest task while also running reviews and meetings