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Ask HN: Transitioning from developer to team lead

9 points by uplikednldtrump ↗ HN
I'm curious to hear from those that have transitioned from developer to team leader or a developer role responsible for other developers and their output.

I'm an accomplished developer who has been working in SV for a long time and now due to my experience i have been asked to lead a team. I have decided to accept.

What do you wish someone had told when transitioning to a team lead role, or what advice do you have. What works for you?

5 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 22.8 ms ] thread
ishanr
Be like Gregory House. Give the team their own thinking legs. Let the best ideas win. Always focus on evidence. Keep in mind what are the most important goals. Remember winning ideas and use them in the future. Do not let power get to your head. Most importantly, stop checking every single line of code. Your job is to get the best people in the team who can write code which you can bet your life on.
monadbonad
Don't expect to get much coding done.

Your success is now measured by your team's success and their failure is your failure.

Deflect praise from you to your team. Attract criticism of your team to yourself.

You will have to make decisions your team don't like. Get used to it.

Each team member is different. Listen, communicate and coach.