The Tech Lead Problem

Some of us start with a career of making stuff, and then transition into a career of talking to people. This transition can be painful.

Making stuff requires concentration, or "being in the zone". People that make stuff, be they programmers, designers, writers or what-have-you, need to block out the rest of the world, really focus on what they're doing and crank out their stuff. People who make stuff need periods of isolation, in order to create high quality work.

The other kind of job is talking to people. Talking to people jobs, like project management, sales, customer service and so forth thrive in environments of interactivity. People who talk to people for a living work better when they're connected to other people, through email, IM, telephones etc. Their days are characterized by frequent brief interactions with other people.

However, sometimes people who make stuff find that their job starts to involve talking to people. Often this is a function of seniority, such as when a senior programmer becomes a tech lead. Programming is primarily a "making stuff" job, but tech leads function as a kind of "transformer" between project managers and developers; stepping down the voltage between the business world of the PM and the technical world of the developers.

This transition is where worlds start to collide. A tech lead is asked not only to talk to other people (co-ordinate developers, explain tech to the PM) but also to make stuff (take on lead programming tasks). This can make people's heads explode.

When one's job is predominantly either to make stuff or to talk to people, one can be fairly functional. Depending on their mode, they either get in the zone or they stay in touch. However, when one has a job that entails both responsibilities it can be very difficult to get either done effectively - one can wind up being torn between modes, appearing unresponsive to people who need them to talk, and unfocused when it comes to making stuff.

I call this the Tech Lead Problem, but it applies to anyone coming out of a production background who takes on management responsibilities. They can be designers, writers or information architects.

The two modes just don't work well together. For this reason, if you're someone who has their duties split between making stuff and talking to people, the trick is to cleanly separate the "making stuff" mode from the "talking to people" mode.

When you're in making stuff mode, block out a nice big appointment for yourself on your calendar so people won't interject meetings, shut off IM, and only check your email at fairly infrequent intervals (once per hour, perhaps). Its best to be completely open about this, allowing "productive time" to live as a first class citizen on your schedule, with appropriate priority against the various meetings and other "talking to people" activities.

Take other steps to reduce extraneous noise - can you work out of the office? How about noise-cancelling headphones? Our Creative Director here has taken to hanging a flashing bicycle light on the back of his chair when he's in productive mode. Don't bug him when that light is on.

Then, ensure that you provide ample "talking to people time". Turn that IM on, check your email frequently. Even (gasp!) get up from your desk, walk over and talk to people.

At first, people who's jobs are primarily to talk to people may have difficulty understanding the importance of separating these modes. Its important to educate them however, because achieving this separation is essential to maintaining sanity if you have a job that requires both kinds of activities.

(Ironically I was interrupted twice, by the same person, while writing this. Oh well...)