A team lead or a work delegator -- Lessons learned from my three-year tenure at a great company

Does a team need a manager or merely a "delegator"?

One expresses in software design patterns, a delegation pattern should not carry any functionality other than simply delegating the call outwardly to an underlying entity. If the call failed, the underlying entity is to be "blamed", not the delegator class. You will pass the interview if you answer a question about delegation patten in this form. But passing the interview doesn't rate you an excellency at what you do with this pattern in real life.

The same verdict of the pattern can be said for managing a team of any, be it a team of engineers and consultants in a technology company. It will make you a manager, not a very bad one in a big corporation, if you just delegate, monitor and readily hold someone responsible if anything goes south. But let me tell you what, in a young startup company, your boss (possibly the company founders) will hate you for your way of team managing. Your way of delegation pattern will have no sustainability for your team and thus for your company. Your team members will feel helpless and learn how to make up stories to cover up their mistakes because they know you would not do anything for them. Your talking straight of "accountability" in modern management will doing nothing but make people fear of and retreat away from responsibilities and hence the opportunities to grow. They will leave the company and bring away valuable knowledge.

When delegating, to the right methods, make sure the inputs are validated, exceptions are checked and handled if necessary, return values are properly wrapped. That is my delegation pattern in team management. Furthermore, I would rigorously ensure there exists right foundation before my boys commence work, a clear direction is provided so that they know what outcome they will be focusing on. Bad fish shall be removed before they fully rot. When exception happens, sincerely becalm your team members that exceptions will be handled and the right outcome will be produced after corrective actions.

Instead of being a report collator and a number cruncher, a team lead shall spend their time making sure the right context is provided at right time to the right people when delegating. A team lead role to a promoted engineer doesn't mean less work with better pay check. Rather it means more work at planning and communicating. In other words, you should be more mentally exhausted than pumping out code.