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A few tips for CTOs, Technical Directors, Technical Leads and Architects on how to define and execute a winning strategy for their teams and products.
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I was once named architect...
but what was I supposed to do?
Technical Lead?
CTO?
Purpose of the Talk
● Useful technical leadership practices● A bit about how to learn them● A bit about how to apply them
As a technical lead...
You are responsible for keeping, protecting and growing your teams
Technical Leadership Practices
1. Align with Business
2.Assess the situation
3. Build a roadmap
4. Encourage learning
5. Set boundaries
6. Execute the roadmap
7. Create opportunities
+Influence Company Culture
I'm guilty for this talk!
Alexandru Bolboacă
Trainer, coach, polyglot programmer with international [email protected]
@alexboly
1. Align with Business
● What does the business want the most in the next 6 months?– Improved customer happiness?– Improved productivity?– Expand to new lines of business?
● How can the technical practices help these objectives?
2. Assess the Situation
● '121 ' chats with everyone involved● Code, design, architecture review● Key Metrics eg. cyclomatic complexity, –
no. of bugs, files with most changes● Documentation review● Process review
=> weak and strong points
3. Build a Roadmap
Vision: Improve customer happiness
Objective: Customers to like the release 9/10 times
Goals
0 blocking / majorbugs per release
Underpromise, overdeliver
0 misunderstandingson features
Nice visual, interaction design
Practices
Demo 2 x week
Code review
Unit test critical areas
ATDD or BDD
Continuous improvement
Visual Management
First demo the design
Top-down dev.
How we'll learn
Coaching / MentoringWorkshop + coaching
DoingBook + Practice
Book + PracticeDoing
Better code design Workshop + coaching
4. Encourage learning
● Low investment + low speed:– Internal Communities of Practice– Encourage community participation– Book clubs
● Average investment + average speed:– Attend conferences– Workshops (see roadmap)
● High investment + high speed:– Coaching– Mentorship
5. Set Boundaries
Because of business need X we need to do / never do practice Y
Eg: because we need to demo flawlessly twice a week, we need high coverage for
automated tests and we don't estimate (unless explicitly requested)
6. Execute the Roadmap
● Change is part of the roadmap● Remember about change:
– Repeat the goals over and over again– Explain, explain and explain again why they're
important– Start with the most likely team(s) to succeed– Market successes, learn from failures– Get outside help
7. Create Opportunities
● Each developer should have a growth objective
● Have '121's every two weeks to review status and define next actions
Company Culture is Crucial!
● Culture = what you do every day● Eg, Mozaic Works:
– Trust, transparency, communication, autonomy, results-orientation
● Eg, Spotify:– High autonomy, high alignment, responsibility– http://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engin
eering-culture-part-1/ for details
You Influence Company Culture!
● What kind of personalities do you want in the team?– collaborative OR combative– help grow others OR eliminate them
● What are the team values?– eg. trust, transparency, communication,
autonomy, results
Technical Leadership Practices
1. Align with Business
2.Assess the situation
3. Build a roadmap
4. Encourage learning
5. Set boundaries
6. Execute the roadmap
7. Create opportunities
+Influence Company Culture
Your Questions?
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”
Learn More
http://itakeunconf.com/Bucharest, 29-30 May 2014
AssessmentsWe provide assessments for technical and organizational purposes
I T.A.K.E. Unconference
Blogmozaicworks.com/category/blog
11
WorkshopsSOLID PrinciplesDesign PatternsUnit TestingTDD etc.
Agile Works Communitywhere we talk about various development practices
Photo Attribution
http://life.halcode.com/archives/2008/04/13/the-7-attributes-of-leadership/
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cqdg1WeNuA8/TjZ8iloJEpI/AAAAAAAAAGY/bGX693pKEPU/s1600/super_architect.jpeg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_110312-N-OA833-005_The_U.S._Naval_Academy_womens_basketball_team_hoists_the_Patriot_League_Tournament_championship_trophy_after_winning_the.jpg
