How to manage software developers without micromanaging
My most eye opening leadership experience was last year. I was made tech lead of a small team, and asked to to accomplish something with a hard and somewhat unrealistic deadline.<p>It was a success, but it had nothing to do with me being an incredibly inspirational leader. Or being a brilliant developer - I don't think I actually contributed any code. It honestly wasn't much to do with me at all. I basically just set the stage for them to work effectively:<p>- I booted out all the non-coding people from our standup. The CIO in particular would waffle on, and it was draining everyones will to work (and possibly live).<p>- I ruthlessly pared down requirements. We had some written specs, and whenever there was a question about which way we should go I chose the one that either didn't involve us doing anything, or was easiest.<p>- I handled dealing with the stakeholders myself, and reported back to them the relevant info.<p>The end result was that they were the first dev team to deliver something on time in the history of that company. No one had to work any over time (demo was Friday mid-day, so I got clearance for them to leave early).<p>So yeah, the best project I ever lead, I barely 'lead'. I was a supporting player. I played interference. I  made sure everyone left them the hell alone, that they had the information they needed, and told them that if it fucked up it was all my fault so relax (always blame the contractor).<p>And and they pretty much did it all by themselves. Turns out developers can develop if you trust them and get out of their way.