I have been a non-coding tech lead before, and I do not understand how a person can both code and manage others without working overtime. Coding requires hours of uninterrupted focus time every day. Management requires making yourself available to help people. You cannot be both available and not available.
It's taken me a while to get to this point, but I enjoy the challenge of managing both sides of the house. I've learned that if I participate in a non-tech meeting, there is a high probability that I will be useless at coding the rest of the day. For that reason, I arranged my schedule to have almost all meetings on Mondays and Tuesdays. I've also learned that coffee helps me express my vision more effectively but can ruin my concentration, so I use it for "people" days. Also, little technical interruptions don't bother me so much as interruptions that get me thinking about a new course of action. When I'm not certain about the course of action I go into processing mode until I figure it out, which keeps me from making any coding progress. Recognizing those interruptions and logging them outside of my brain for later processing has helped a lot. I'm sure I have a few other little tricks too... Routine is really key for me.
My team is small and nearly everyone works well independent of my management. I expect that my coding time will diminish as the team grows larger.
Comments
Thank you, this is exactly what I'm getting at.
I have been a non-coding tech lead before, and I do not understand how a person can both code and manage others without working overtime. Coding requires hours of uninterrupted focus time every day. Management requires making yourself available to help people. You cannot be both available and not available.
It's taken me a while to get to this point, but I enjoy the challenge of managing both sides of the house. I've learned that if I participate in a non-tech meeting, there is a high probability that I will be useless at coding the rest of the day. For that reason, I arranged my schedule to have almost all meetings on Mondays and Tuesdays. I've also learned that coffee helps me express my vision more effectively but can ruin my concentration, so I use it for "people" days. Also, little technical interruptions don't bother me so much as interruptions that get me thinking about a new course of action. When I'm not certain about the course of action I go into processing mode until I figure it out, which keeps me from making any coding progress. Recognizing those interruptions and logging them outside of my brain for later processing has helped a lot. I'm sure I have a few other little tricks too... Routine is really key for me.
My team is small and nearly everyone works well independent of my management. I expect that my coding time will diminish as the team grows larger.