Another aspect of becoming a lead/manager that takes some time to
wrap one's head around is what your role is now. You are no longer
judged based on your own actions, but rather the collective actions of
your team. With all of the time you will likely spend developing
people, attending meetings, reviewing work, etc., your direct
contribution to the collective output of the team will be low. This is
more and more true, the greater the number of reports you have.
The role of a lead is fundamentally different from that of an
individual contributor. A lead is tasked with maximizing the output of
his or her work group. More often than not, this means that the lead
takes a back seat when it comes to "real work." It is more important
that you spend your time growing, unblocking, and dealing with
bureaucracy than it is that you fix a bug or implement some feature.
Writing software takes a lot of concentration. It takes unbroken
time to just sit and work. As a lead, your day is usually broken up.
It is hard to get that time to concentrate. When you get it, it often
comes at the expense of other things. You won't have the same
opportunities you once had. Instead, your day will be working with
others to solve their problems. You will be helping people develop
themselves. You will be helping to prioritize the work. You paying
more attention to the project as a whole than to particular features.
This is all good work, but it is very different from your previous life
as an individual contributor.
This becomes really apparent when it comes time for reviews. At
Microsoft we have a review system where we are judged based on the goals
we set for ourselves and our ability to achieve those goals. When you
are an individual contributor, your review is easy. You just list off
everything you did during the previous year. I wrote this. I tested
that. I drove this iniative. When you become a lead, your review
changes. When you sit down to write your first review as a lead, you'll
notice that your individual accomplishments were not what they once
were. That's okay though, you are no longer responsible for just "I."
You are now responsible for "We." You are judged by, and it is okay to
claim credit for, the work of your team. We wrote this. We tested
that. One of my reports drove this iniative. The first time you write a
review like that, it feels like cheating. After all, you didn't do
that work. Your role has changed. That work took place because you
facilitated it. You kept people focused and unblocked so they could
give 100% of their effort. Welcome to your new job.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steverowe/archive/2006/03/15/552008.aspx
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