"Begin right and you are easy. Continue easy, and you are right. The right way to go easy is to forget the right way, and forget that the going is easy."
— Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu
My first time as a Tech Lead, I was clueless, but lucky. My second time leading was an accident. The existing lead had stepped away, burned out. There was work to do, people to do it, but the glue was not there. I'd just learnt about sports coaching, I thought I had this. I did, almost, for a while.
There was stress, tears, arguments and failures. Once I realised the complexity of the new world I'd stepped into, I had regrets. The team did a great job. I don't know if I did.
No one hands you a manual when you become a Tech Lead.
You were good at the work, so they handed you a team. No one mentioned the shift in world-view required. The balancing act between expert engineer, truthful soothsayer, damage mitigator and cat herder. So many new skills: how to disagree, or even better, find agreement that sticks. Holding a room, delegating, and accurate focus. How not to be exhausted.
I figured it out by getting it wrong first. I think most of us do. Took a few bruises and quite a few sleepless nights pushing against the grain, trying so, so hard to make magic happen and will the right things into place.
No one hands you a manual when you become a Tech Lead. And that is freedom of a sort, but it's also a high demand.
Orientation: forcing vs flowing
Pushing, forcing, fighting and demanding gets exhausting. This site offers another way: leadership through ease and flow. Surrendering some of our wants and ego to gain useful truths and to do great things together.
My guides are old texts that present this alternative way: working in the flow of a situation rather than against it, seeking a grain to cut with. A difference between forcing and flowing that I've found transformative.
Who this is for
These writings are for Tech Leads finding their way. Those just promoted, volunteered or dropped in. Those who have tried it and thought: 'where's the real manual?' Those who feel like they're fighting the flow, fighting the team, or fighting themselves. Especially the ones starting to burn out from the fight.
Forcing has its place. But only for a while. I want to offer an alternative.
This is not a manual
I don't have a multi-step leadership plan for you. No first 90 days or a methodology. That's not what this is.
Instead I will tell you stories from my life as a Tech Lead, and point at wisdom that has been passed down. I'll provide shapes and patterns that can guide you to easier flow and effortless action.
Real life is where learning happens. Not-doing is also important. This writing will invite you to pause and assess and ask yourself what's important? What's not? What seeds will you plant and what branches will you prune?
What you'll find here
This site divides the challenge into two spaces: The Way and The Work.
The Way is the inner work. Developing who you are as a leader, how you hold yourself, what you notice.
The Work is the outer practice. Concrete things you do on a Tuesday afternoon when something's gone wrong. It won't tell you what to do. It will provide a palette of options to get the job done.
Between the two of them they present the path of a Tech Lead, the skills and navigation that you can grow, and a perspective built on old wisdom, to build a sense of what to choose.
Stories from thirty years of leading teams. Some that worked. Some that didn't. Lessons drawn out of them, the way they came to me.