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Why should I take your advice? As someone who has never heard of you before, this is information I was looking for. Not to say you don't have some good advice t

Why should I take your advice? As someone who has never heard of you before, this is information I was looking for. Not to say you don't have some good advice to give, but with so many articles and books like this out there I want to know what your background is, what motivated you to write this book, and what mistakes you made or witnessed that shaped your idea of what a good team lead is. Please don't take this as an insult, just some constructive criticism from a potential reader.

shvetsovdm 6y ago
Fair point! I would not take advice from someone I don’t know too or with whom I would not want to change places. Let me introduce myself and let you judge if you want to take advice from me. I'm Dmitry. 12 years in IT, 7 of them as a software developer. I was a Head of the Security department at a branch of a state telecom company in Russia (let than 1 year). Lead developer at small consulting Ruby On Rails shop also in Russia (about 4 years). Last March I joined a Silicon Valley startup and in October I become a Team Lead one of four teams. One of my mistakes was to think that leadership should be shown. Another mistake was trying to think that everyone would follow my advice because I have more experience than others. There were also mistakes that destroyed the teams in which I worked: the imposition of decisions, the desire that everything was done "right", lack of trust in the team members. I also went to the other extreme and protected the team from tough deadlines and pressure. I made many mistakes and learned from experienced people with whom I am fortunate to work. I like to try, experiment and see what gives results. I am writing a blog and newsletter about soft skills https://dmitryshvetsov.com/articles/ https://dmitryshvetsov.com/articles/, 142 subscribers at the moment, stated this March. I have shared my thoughts on how best to hire developers, how to get rid of the routine and other concepts from this book with friends and colleagues, and have often found a positive response. To shape my thoughts into clear ideas and approaches, I decided to write a book on the basics that will help a budding team lead.

shvetsovdm 6y ago

Fair point! I would not take advice from someone I don’t know too or with whom I would not want to change places. Let me introduce myself and let you judge if you want to take advice from me. I'm Dmitry. 12 years in IT, 7 of them as a software developer. I was a Head of the Security department at a branch of a state telecom company in Russia (let than 1 year). Lead developer at small consulting Ruby On Rails shop also in Russia (about 4 years). Last March I joined a Silicon Valley startup and in October I become a Team Lead one of four teams. One of my mistakes was to think that leadership should be shown. Another mistake was trying to think that everyone would follow my advice because I have more experience than others. There were also mistakes that destroyed the teams in which I worked: the imposition of decisions, the desire that everything was done "right", lack of trust in the team members. I also went to the other extreme and protected the team from tough deadlines and pressure. I made many mistakes and learned from experienced people with whom I am fortunate to work. I like to try, experiment and see what gives results. I am writing a blog and newsletter about soft skills https://dmitryshvetsov.com/articles/ https://dmitryshvetsov.com/articles/, 142 subscribers at the moment, stated this March. I have shared my thoughts on how best to hire developers, how to get rid of the routine and other concepts from this book with friends and colleagues, and have often found a positive response. To shape my thoughts into clear ideas and approaches, I decided to write a book on the basics that will help a budding team lead.