4 ms·

I think it's in "Managing the professional service firm" by Maister that he talks about giving people various titles so they can't really compare themselves wit

I think it's in "Managing the professional service firm" by Maister that he talks about giving people various titles so they can't really compare themselves within a firm. Famously (maybe) there is a scene in The Office where Dwight and Andy square off as Assistant Regional Manager and Managing Director in charge of sales, and each thinks their title places them above the other. There's an element of this in the article, which I think is different than the Walmart Associate / Metamate thing which I think is somehow meant to instill comaraderie. And then there is the actual inflation - "lead" is the new one I see. Are you a lead or the lead. Nowadays it's almost always the former, and it means you have about two years experience, like most current uses of senior

californical 4y ago
I think your wording could confuse people. I am a lead in the context of my company, as there are a few different leads. But each of us is the only lead of our own team. So if you asked me, I’d probably say “I’m one of our leads”, because the company has several teams which serve different functions. But I am the singular tech lead of my team. Had no idea that a team would have multiple leads, wouldn’t have even crossed my mind to disambiguate that for you, and I’m guessing that same confusion has happened with others
- happytoexplain 4y ago
  Having multiple people on the same team with "lead" in their title, with no clear definition of what they are leading, is in fact a phenomenon I have seen in practice. I am aware of one major company that simply promotes everybody from "senior software developer" to "lead software developer" at a certain point, with no regard for how many people have that title on each team. In practice, the lead position seems to be more like what is called senior in other companies.

californical 4y ago

I think your wording could confuse people. I am a lead in the context of my company, as there are a few different leads. But each of us is the only lead of our own team. So if you asked me, I’d probably say “I’m one of our leads”, because the company has several teams which serve different functions. But I am the singular tech lead of my team. Had no idea that a team would have multiple leads, wouldn’t have even crossed my mind to disambiguate that for you, and I’m guessing that same confusion has happened with others

happytoexplain 4y ago
Having multiple people on the same team with "lead" in their title, with no clear definition of what they are leading, is in fact a phenomenon I have seen in practice. I am aware of one major company that simply promotes everybody from "senior software developer" to "lead software developer" at a certain point, with no regard for how many people have that title on each team. In practice, the lead position seems to be more like what is called senior in other companies.