Building and leading a brand-new team
A pathway to becoming a Tech Lead: building and leading a brand-new team from scratch.
Intro
There are three main pathways that can lead you into a tech lead role.
Today I am focusing on 3. Building and leading a brand-new team.
How you end up in this scenario
As your company grows, a new team is formed, and it needs a tech lead. Whether you’re asked to take on the role or you volunteer, you’re starting from scratch. Everything is new, for you and the team. This gives you a unique opportunity to shape the team's culture, processes, and technical direction right from the start.
The downside of this approach
Everything is new, and you don’t have someone daily in the team to guide your first steps. Leading a new team is a different challenge than leading an existing team as it requires different skills.
A new team has different needs, such as:
A discovery period: the time it takes to understand what your team will build, why and how.
A team definition period: the time it takes to shape the team’s culture and establish ways of working.
A settling in period: the time it takes people to get to know each other and adjust to working together.
A hiring period: Chances are, you’ll have to bring new people on board as needs evolve. The hiring period is the time it takes to balance team dynamics, evaluate skills, and actively shape how each hire fits into the team's long-term goals.
The benefits of this approach
Everything is new - not just for you, but for everyone involved. This gives you the opportunity to start fresh, define your role as a leader, improve on your previous experiences and bring people in the team that are aligned with the culture you want to create. Your team members are also likely to be more engaged and curious, eager to contribute and take initiative at this stage.
Wrap up
This is just one of the three most common paths toward becoming a Tech Lead.
The other two are:
