Technical leadership, the undervalued or missing ingredient to software projects
“Everything rises and falls on leadership” – Dr John C. Maxwell
I discovered this statement by Dr John C. Maxwell when reading his book “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” more than 15 years ago. A highly recommended book if you want to grow as a leader.
However, I think this statement is best explained by the man himself from this video of law number one – the law of the lid:
So, why is leadership important to a software project?
So many projects tick all the boxes, but not this one and end up struggling or failing.
I’m not referring to executive, top or mid management leadership or project management. I am referring to on the ground technical leadership.
Here’s why ground technical leadership is important:
1. Responsibility
A good leader takes responsibility of the project. He does not stop at just doing his job, or his perspective of his job. He does whatever it takes to get the team to succeed. You need more than a project plan to get a team to really thrive.
2. Direction
Software projects need direction that makes technical sense. A good leader gets the team all focussed on what are important and lead by example. Software teams need clear technical direction or people either go down a rabbit hole of research or build islands.
3. Technical decisions
Successful projects do make many good technical decisions through its lifecycle. Technical leadership is needed to help a team make those decisions. Non-technical leadership or management does not necessarily understand the impact of such decisions.
The best way to make this point on the impact of wrong technical decisions is from the following recording of history:
Race to the South Pole in 1911–1912
Two rival expeditions from opposite sides of Antarctica:
- Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led one team, which reached the geographic South Pole first on December 14, 1911, and returned safely.
- British explorer Robert Falcon Scott led the other, arriving 34 days later on January 17, 1912, only to discover Amundsen’s tent and flag.
Scott’s polar party—himself, Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates, and Edgar Evans—all perished on the return journey due to extreme cold, starvation, scurvy, and blizzards, just 11 miles short of a supply depot.
Amundsen’s success stemmed from Arctic-honed techniques like dog sledging and efficient depots.
Scott’s team suffered from relying on unreliable ponies (critical technical mistake) as well as poor planning in underestimating calorie needs and supplies.
There’s much to learn from both these explorers.
4. Planning and navigation
I’ve rarely encountered projects that is plain sailing. Constant planning and navigation of serious detail tasks, requirements and expectation need to be achieved.
Non-technical project managers lack the technical insight to take the lead here. Without a technical lead that can set and drive an achievable plan, many teams end up being setup to fail.
5. Teamwork and synergy
To get a team to achieve together is more that just people executing their tasks. It is to get a team to operate in harmony, synergy and energy. These kinds of teams don’t just happen. There’s always a good leader involved.
6. Hard decisions
Many projects at some point must make critical, hard decisions that many people will shy away from. Decisions like dismissing a team member that’s pulling the team down or making a significant architecture change with huge time and money implications.
The team needs a senior technical leader to make those hard decisions. Ignoring them leads to projects gone bad.
In conclusion, add strong technical leadership to your list of critical skills needed in the software team. Both are important and should be valued: technical and a leader.