Tech lead is a role many organizations assign without providing a role
description or defined responsibilities. That's because it's often used as a
role on an initiative, product, project, or team, and not a formal job
description. Most organizations spend their efforts on defining and wording
job descriptions and related career paths. They don't go more in-depth into
determining roles people take on, especially roles on initiatives, projects,
and teams.
This can lead to confusion for both the person assigned the role and for the
people working with the tech lead.
In agile, there's literature that defines the role of product owners and
scrum masters. But as I work with many clients, the role of the tech lead is
often assumed known and understood.
So when I'm asked why estimates are inaccurate, how to write user stories
with better requirements, or what's going wrong with teams missing their
sprint commitment, I ask leaders how they assign roles on their agile and
scrum teams.
Agile Tech Leads Wear Many Hats in Different Organizations
When it comes to tech leads, there are some responsibilities that most
organizations apply reasonably consistently. For example, tech leads are
assumed to be mentoring the team on completing their assignments, and they
are the first to respond to technical blocks raised by the team. Beyond
several basics, how teams assign responsibilities depends on how structured
an agile process they operate, and their rigor in technical standards.
StarCIO's programs address that through our
Driving Digital Guides
and
StarCIO Workshops.
Our philosophy is that every organization is different, so even the
responsibilities of fairly standard roled like scrum masters and product
owners are often defined and aligned to organizational needs, culture, and
talent.
So, in Episode 11 of
5 Minutes with @NYIke, I
share some of the essential responsibilities of a tech lead on agile and
scrum teams.
thanks for sharing such a benifitial information
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