Two years in the same company is a long time for most people, at which point they either move on, or move up. Most developers, programmers especially, tend to lack leadership skills to move up, and only do so through management insistence or great reluctance. Training is rarely forthcoming leaving them unprepared for their newly-found responsibilities. This article gives some (cynical) simple advice to help developers cope with leadership in this unenviable position.Everyone else is a muppet

When you work alongside people they seem competent, useful and intelligent. That’s because you only hear about their final accomplishments. When you’re a lead you’re privy to their entire thought process and must help with every problem and minor quibble and panic attack along the way, which, if we were being cynical, might make them appear stupid. Remember that they’re not!It’s just part of the same erratic thought process that we all go through. Knowing the steps they take towards a solution should not count against them, nor their ability. Knowing their thought processes can even be used to your advantage when it comes to tracking their progress.Everyone else is clever

There is a school of thought that says only the second best programmer in a team ever becomes the lead. After all, why would anyone demote a good coder into the lead position; forcing them to spend half their time running around fixing PCs and dev kits, looking for missing DLLs, or wasting their life in management meetings!? To even the score, you must maintain the illusion of management ability. And the word ‘illusion’ is key, here. You must therefore do management-oriented things – like call meetings, use words like “game projection forecasts” or “vertical management”, and talk about the project in broad global terms. Since most of this will constitute information, usually passed down from your boss, it will be new to them, and appear impressive. Since you’re not offering opinions, just facts, no one is in a position to dispute their validity, and you’ll be unchallenged. Furthermore, the more you tell the staff about the project, the more likely they are to respond to you. They will be empowered by your openness and you will have learnt something new… that you can then pass on to someone else. They in turn will be more forthcoming. And so on. Just remember to quote sources, and be free with your praise so that no one feels that you’re getting rich off their ideas. Even if you are!Everyone wants you to make your own decisions

As a lead you’ll often be asked to make on-the-spot judgement calls without any preparation. This is usually from your boss. “How long will it take to write the network game?” for example. Without a lot of prior experience this is impossible to answer in an off-the-cuff manner. But your boss wants an answer immediately – so give him one. Just don’t give him the answer to the question he’s just asked! Pretend to be a politician for the day and reply, “In order to look fully at the area of network games we must first consider…”, and detail the immediately obvious problems, talking him into submission. Then finish up with “I’ll work out the specifics and produce a time and cost estimate for next week.” The boss has his answer, you’ve wriggled out of giving one, and you now have a week (and the brains of the rest of the team) to find one.In those dire circumstances when you can’t delay the answer, simply apply “The Scotty Factor”; and overestimate by four. This might dissuade the boss from some of his more idle suggestions, and when you bring it in ahead of schedule you’ll keep your reputation as a miracle worker!When the request is an unimportant, casual, feature they’ll probably forget they made it anyway, and won’t trouble you again. Still, you should workout the timelines regardless. This way you’ll be prepared – but not pro-active – and only offer the schedule if asked, otherwise you’ll end up with more work than you probably have realistic time for.Everyone wants you to agree to their own decisions

Sometimes you’ll be asked a question like “Should I write a general-purpose, or game-specific, menu system?”  Whenever anyone asks you such a question, that person will inevitably know the answer, already. Remember at school, when the teacher told you “The answer is in the question?” Well, we haven’t grown up yet; this is still true!You can therefore ask, “How much longer will the general-purpose version take?” and “Why will it take an extra month?” You might sound like the old Eliza AI program at times, but it will allow them to clarify their ideas, and provide the answer with minimal work on your part. Most people only want their manager to agree to their idea anyway, as it gives them a safety net if something goes wrong.However, because they’ve now made a commitment (to you), the onus is on them to deliver. And because they’ve given you their complete thought process you have an easy way of creating the schedule (traditionally a very difficult task) and monitoring their progress to make sure it still fits within the timetable.If you wish to appear more managerial you can always ask one of the “Manager Wildcard Questions” which are suitable for any situation. For example, “How long will it take?”, “What additional resources do you need?”, “Is it realistic within the deadline?” and so on.This technique works for those that are below you in the food chain, and for those that are above. Whether you consider ‘above’ to be management - or the workforce - I leave as an exercise for the reader!Everyone else expects you to be different

And what’s more – you should be! Calling your work mate a ‘muppet’ is a bit of fun, a laugh, and good clean bonding. Calling a member of your team the same is not. Unfortunately! If you’re addressing them as a friend down the pub, for example, then it may be acceptable to use such words. But if you’re asking the same person to check-in some source code, or attend a meeting then use a more appropriate name. Such as their own. Get into the habit of making this distinction.Remember that you now have to regularly talk to everyone on the team, whereas previously you could go for days, or even weeks, without doing so. Now they’re part and parcel of your everyday considerations. Adopting the distinction between work friend and work colleague is better for everyone. It prevents team members without a personal relationship with you from feeling excluded, and maintains a level of respect for (and from) everyone.Everyone else expects you to be the same

And what’s more – you should be! At least as a person. If you suddenly change your socialising patterns, arrival time, or general work attire (meetings with external publishers will always require a change of clothes, so explain this), then it can be perceived as a prima-donna attitude, and a symbol (or perk) of your new-found superiority.For every team member that is happy to see hard work and skill rewarded through promotion, there’s another who’s bitter and twisted that it wasn’t them. They’re probably waiting for you to fall. Don’t let them. There’s no need to suddenly become Mr. Eager, and be first in and last out, but you should set an example for the team by arriving on time, and not taking liberties by leaving early just because your boss is out of the office. If this means making up a ½ hour at days end when everyone else is already at the pub, then so be it. It sets an example and prevents a poor precedence being established. Who knows – they might even feel sorry for you and buy the next pint!If you want to see how power can corrupt a sensible, normal, person into a petty, self-absorbed, conceited, self-righteous, smug, half-witted manager then watch ‘The Office’. Apparently, it’s fiction!Everyone else wants to be the boss

Many people want their ideas implemented without the hard work, effort and responsibility that it entails. They will often coerce ideas onto you with which you don’t agree. So, you can either handle the disagreement intelligently and diplomatically – or ignore it altogether. The latter is easier. The first method of avoiding the problem is to talk to them… repeatedly… for ages… until… they… give… in. Listening to the same voice for any length of time is boring, and they will eventually become exhausted and agree to your idea. Or they’ll forget their own! You’re their boss remember, so it’s your prerogative to talk for ages if you so wish.An alternative method is to say “I’m too busy to handle this right now – I have to talk with [insert your bosses name here] in a minute, but email me with your full proposal outlining benefits, problems and potential implications in the short, medium and long term, and we’ll look into it.” Not only have you exhausted them in one management-style jargon-ridden sentence, it means they’ll have to do some real work to get their idea through and will either forget about it, or get bored with it. Anyone talking for the sake of hearing their own voice (you probably know who they are) won’t bother, while anyone with a genuine idea will take the time to write a full proposal. At which point you have a full discussion of the problem, and something concrete with which to work.This also works if someone, usually your boss, tries pulling the same trick on you! Simply say, “Good idea, boss! I haven’t been able to note down the full particulars, so email me the details and we’ll get on it.” This presents a double whammy. Firstly, they might get bored writing it, or forget about it entirely. This is usual, since many bosses are like kids at Christmas with new toys, where ideas from 10 minutes ago are “so twentieth century.” Secondly, it provides a set of change requests – in writing. Then, if anything goes wrong you have an (electronic) paper trail should anything brown and sticky hit the proverbial fan.You don’t want to be the boss

As a lead you have to make decisions; that’s what you’re paid for. Most of the time the decisions are easy because, as we’ve seen, each question comes with its own answer. But some of the time there are still two very good alternatives from which to choose.Determining the better solution is easy, since you can employ the same technique with your boss as you do with your staff. That is, keep asking questions of your boss while role-playing one of the solutions until they’ve answered the question for you. When sitting on the other side of the table you should reverse the questions, so “Is there time for this solution?” would become “Can you give me enough time for this solution?” and so on. Incidentally, most managers will know this trick, and will turn the tables by continually asking you questions until you realise the answer. Either way, the problem will be resolved without any management experience.Sometimes you will have found the answer, but then realised you’ve backtracked on your original suggestion, and contradicted yourself. This does not matter. No proper manager will call you up on it, since they’ve done exactly the same thing to you in the past, and are just as scared of being found out.Everyone else is boring

How you noticed how people always talk about themselves? Incessantly. When you’re a lead you are forced into suffering these people at work, down the pub, at the Christmas party, and everywhere else! Just because they’re on your team means you’re expected to get along with them, so you should at least make the effort to be civil. If you acknowledge that you’ll never be best friends, but are working together on a project, you’ll be able to stomach them as you’ve changed your focus: they are colleagues, not friends.

But what subject do you talk about when you don’t want to talk with them? Themselves! And how do you do that without taking an interest? Use their CV! Keep it to hand, and learn one thing on it. Consider the case where they enjoy watching midget lesbian swamp wrestling at the weekend, as a completely fictitious example that I have no knowledge of. You can bring it up in conversation in those awkward moments when you have to make conversation. There’s usually enough hobbies or past jobs on a CV to keep them talking until you’re rescued by someone else. If they let slip about any new hobbies, make a note of them on the CV for later reference. Who knows? You might even start enjoying their company!

Everyone else is interesting

This can often mean the lunch breaks are a little longer than intended, or maybe you stay outside for a cigarette more. Make use of this time to communicate more. The art of communication is, er, well, like, you know, like, sorta, like, difficult! There are many good books on communications, all of which re-iterate the same set of rules: be positive in your tone, be articulate about the words, and be considerate to the listener. And always be discrete and remember talk to about people as if they’re in the room. Word gets around.Also note, that most communication is non-verbal, and again, there are many good books on body language. Make a point to read them, and not just remove the ‘codes’. After all, someone crossing their arms might be construed as a defensive gesture… but they might just be cold. As Freud said, “sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.” Apparently, that means something profound.

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