How to Team Lead: The First Steps

Congratulations! You’ve landed the role! Whether it’s a promotion or a new job. You’ve proven to others you have what it takes, but chances are you’ve not fully convinced yourself yet. It’s normal to be nervous and afraid of new responsibilities. This article and the "How to Team Lead" series are designed to help you gain confidence and succeed.

Over the past three and a half years, I've led a web team of up to 11 developers on over 20 projects. In this series, I'll share practical tips, guidance, and anecdotes from my experience, hoping to improve my own leadership through your feedback as well. For more on my background and leadership style, see the “About” article.

This first article focuses on the initial actions I recommend to conquer your fears and set yourself up for success.

A Team Lead’s Purpose #

A team lead's success isn't just linked to their team's success—it's entirely dependent on it! This dependence goes beyond mere task management, encompassing providing vision, cultivating collaboration, and fueling individual growth. Various team performance measurements, or key performance indicators (KPIs), are used to assess both the team's progress and the effectiveness of its leadership. For example, Time to Merge (TTM)—the time it takes from receiving a task ticket to merging the code into the production environment—is a common KPI.

Long merge times can cripple a team's efficiency, directly impacting project delivery and raising concerns about leadership. As a team lead, ensuring a smooth and efficient development process is crucial. While tracking metrics like TTM provides valuable insights, they don't tell the whole story. To effectively address inefficiencies, you need a deeper understanding of your team's day-to-day work. I suggest starting by dedicating time to coding in the same environment as your team. This will allow you to immerse yourself in your team's processes and experience challenges that your team faces firsthand. While developing alongside your team provides the most direct experience of their challenges, you can also gain valuable insights by observing their workflows and then conducting targeted interviews. This approach allows you to gather both objective observations and subjective feedback from your team members, helping you quickly develop a comprehensive understanding of their day-to-day experiences. This detailed understanding will be crucial for identifying common inefficiencies.

Two common time-consuming inefficiencies are:

• Lack of proper documentation for routine tasks
• Slow code review and approval processes

These seemingly simple issues can have a significant impact on a team's productivity. For example, constantly searching for undocumented information wastes valuable time and disrupts the workflow. Similarly, lengthy code reviews often occur when reviewers are unfamiliar with the project or the specific code being modified, which not only delays releases but also creates bottlenecks in the development process. These bottlenecks are points where work gets backed up, preventing other tasks from moving forward. Addressing these existing problems is generally more effective than introducing new processes, as it prevents building on flawed foundations and leads to more sustainable improvements. This focus on efficiency and positive change contributes to your team's overall well-being and is achieved by creating strong relationships with your team members, both individually and as a group.

The Foundation for Team Success #

The Individual #

To foster this connection, I recommend establishing monthly one-on-one meetings with each team member. Remember, they are people with emotions, personal lives, and a need for a supportive work environment. This means being a great listener, which is essential for effectively addressing individual needs and concerns. I recommend these individual catch-ups be from half an hour to an hour long. Key discussion points include:

• Updates from leadership or potential future changes
• Project/Task updates, roadblocks, and process improvement suggestions
• Performance reflection and acknowledgment of successes
• Open discussion, including personal matters (if the team member wishes to discuss them)

These one-on-one meetings provide a valuable opportunity to build trust, address concerns, and ensure smooth team operations. Sharing updates from leadership or discussing potential future changes keeps everyone informed and aligned, minimizing surprises and developing transparency.

These meetings also provide a dedicated space for discussing project and task-related updates, including any roadblocks the team member is facing. For example, if a team member is stuck on a particular coding challenge, a brief pair programming session can often provide the necessary guidance and help them overcome the hurdle. These sessions also provide a platform for team members to suggest process improvements, encouraging a culture of continuous growth.

Regularly reflecting on performance, acknowledging successes, and addressing any concerns ensures that expectations are clear and that team members feel valued and supported. It also offers a chance for you to provide constructive feedback and identify areas for professional development.

Ultimately, these meetings are primarily driven by the team member's needs and provide an open forum for them to discuss anything else on their mind, including personal matters if they wish to do so. This flexibility ensures that any unforeseen issues or concerns can be addressed efficiently.

Ideally, as a team lead, you ensure everyone gains value from your one-on-one time together. However, not every team member will always have specific issues or topics to discuss. In those cases, it's important to proactively shift the focus. Try bringing up relevant points from your own agenda that might benefit them or the team. Their input can be invaluable in shaping actions that will ultimately benefit the entire team. One-on-one meetings aren't solely about generating action items. Sometimes, after discussing recommended opening questions like “What are you currently working on?” or “How are you feeling?”, the greatest value lies in providing a space for team members to feel heard and understood. This requires active listening, empathy, and addressing any concerns raised—key elements of a supportive environment. Building upon these individual connections, it's also crucial to cultivate a strong sense of community and collaboration within the team.

The Team #

To further encourage knowledge sharing and mutual support, I recommend a second recurring meeting for the entire team. This meeting enables valuable synergies and reinforces a positive team mentality. I recommend scheduling it, for example, every two weeks for one to two hours, focusing on the following key areas:

• Knowledge sharing and problem solving
• Team-wide project updates and discussions
• Open discussion

These team meetings provide a platform for members to share knowledge, research findings, and any challenges they've overcome within their workstreams. This not only prevents others from encountering the same issues but also fosters a culture of learning and collaboration. This forum also allows for discussions about project updates that affect everyone. Just as with the individual one-on-ones, it's essential to leave time for open discussion, allowing the team to raise any other relevant topics. Establishing these communication channels helps your team feel part of something bigger, shifting the focus from individual developers simply working on tickets in isolation to a collaborative team working towards a common goal.

Conclusion #

Establishing these regular individual and team catch-ups is the first step towards building a high-performing team. By prioritising communication, creating a sense of shared purpose, and actively addressing inefficiencies, you'll not only create a more organized and happier work environment, but also directly impact your team's productivity and overall success—which, as discussed, is the ultimate measure of your effectiveness as a Team lead. Start implementing these strategies today! This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for the next article as we continue to explore the path to a happy and high-performing team."