What Happens When a Great Team Lead Leaves?

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Hey folks, we're going to go to the experienced dev subreddit for the topic today. And the post was what happens when a great lead leaves the team. And so this Redditor was saying that as a developer, uh, from their experience so far, it's mostly been that if they're on a team and they have like, you know, good technical lead, someone that's more senior on the team, it's always been in their experience that they leave the team or there's a team like they have the team change before someone like the the great tech lead leaves the team. So they're kind of wondering like what what happens in situations like this, right? And uh I can't remember if it was a commenter in the original post, but you know, one of the examples there was so you have a really good uh technical lead on the team.

Uh I mean this can look different in all cases, but in this uh particular example, it was really like uh whether it's team management, there's more pressure mounting on this technical lead. And uh there's this belief uh that the technical lead actually plans to leave and is like actively pursuing like other opportunities. So kind of like feeling a little bit more real like hey what's actually going to happen when this person that not only do we rely on them and they're awesome but there is more and more like seemingly more and more reliance on them uh as in it's uh it feels very observable uh to others on the team. So what does that look like? what happens in situations like this.

And I scroll through the comments to see uh you know if there were wildly different perspectives on this and I think there's a bit of a spectrum which is cool because I I think that when we talk about things like especially if you're new to this channel like one of my goals is that when we do talk through different scenarios different topics it's not just you know one perspective and obviously as one person I'm going to be sharing my lived experiences but uh you know I will try as much as I can to say like how can we think about this from different angles. So, it was cool to see in this Reddit thread in the comments there were some different ideas ranging from things like um you know tech lead leaves there was hyperd dependence on them and then like shit's really hard after

right like there was too much dependence on them things weren't set up well and it's super rough after others were saying you know almost the exact opposite were like sure like obviously someone leaving the team that had a lot of experience and was was really awesome I'm sure that sucks, but also like it created some uh some good opportunities for other people on the team. And I think that, you know, these two opposite sides uh absolutely exist. I think there's all sorts of things in the middle. I just kind of wanted to chat through this because I I think for a lot of people, this is a very real thing that will happen in their careers. And uh interestingly enough, I think depending on the point in your career, you will experience awesome tech leads that leave teams and you will be an awesome tech lead that leaves a team.

And so you will be at different points in your career on different sides of this, which I think is kind of a a cool thing. Okay. So I think in the scenario where you have a tech lead or like someone who's just, you know, awesome on a team and they could be a subject matter expert in a particular area. They could be that plus someone who's always going out of their way to help others. It could be that they're the person who seems to be able to debug things like uh that are extremely difficult and complex and you know people go to them like you could have this look any sort of way, right? The idea being that you have someone who's very good, helpful for the team and uh there's a reliance on them.

And I would say that you know in all of these situations that there is going to be a period of time where uh where things are challenging right there's there is in in the example like a reliance on someone and they are good. So it's not like you have someone it's like people are like happy that they're gone. It's it's very much like they are a net positive for the team as the framing, right? So yeah, of course like having someone that is helpful for the team in in any capacity leave is going to be challenging, right? you're not only are you down a person, but you're down a person that people were reliant on uh and you know individuals or the greater team uh had you know a big benefit from having that person there.

So I would say in all these examples there was a at least a period where um it's going to be challenging right there's some uncertainty around like well what happens right so uncertainty there's gaps right this happens literally with anyone leaving a team whether or not they were you know like a rock star that everyone relied on or just uh you know someone who is uh you know good employee on the team there's going to be gaps. You could you could even make the argument if you have people that are uh underperforming on the team and and they're no longer with the team that there's going to be uncertainty, right? Um I've seen this happen many times. When you have team changes and people leave, there's a period of uncertainty and layered on with these examples, you're going to have a period where it's a little bit more difficult, right?

Because that person was providing a lot of value. And so I think that's important to recognize is that regardless of how awesome someone is, there is uh at least a period of uncertainty. Okay? And what does when I say uncertainty, I realize that's kind of vague and whatever like what does that actually mean? It could be even you know as simple as like okay well this person was supposed to be working on these work streams uh you know for the person maybe who was underperforming. Maybe they weren't actually doing that, but they were supposed to. Okay, so who is supposed to now, right? Like, so that's some level of uncertainty. Maybe that's a small amount, but still some amount of it. And then of course when you go to the other end where someone's really awesome, maybe they were responsible for a lot of things or they were an expert in a bunch of things.

Who who fills that void? Right? So if we talk through the example where um people were saying you know tech lead leaves or this awesome person leaves and it's it's hell after um my thought on this is that there is a there's a management sort of gap and I don't mean that as in like it's because the manager is bad because there's lots of different factors here but I think that there's you know a management gap and what I mean by that is that I would say in an ideal world, a manager is able to make sure that there aren't single points of failure on a team, right? That's in an ideal world. And I would say even if you are an amazing manager, there's going to be situations where like some things are outside of your control, right? Maybe it's uh given how much pressure there is on the team for delivering and how uh thinly spread people are on different deliverables.

Maybe it's you know borderline impossible to to make sure you have uh like redundancy built in across expertise and knowledge in different areas. Maybe you have backtoback like maybe you have two people in terms of redundancy in some areas for expertise and knowledge and both of them leave for different reasons, right? Um and then all of a sudden you're like, well, you know, I I didn't have a single point of failure. Uh but now I also have maybe two people that were responsible gone. So even if you are an amazing manager, I think that this kind of thing can happen. And then of course I think that there are uh managers who who aren't thinking about uh the team as like a a unit and more like how do we just crank out as much as much or as as much code or as many features or whatever as possible.

Um and this hyper optimization around like you know you kind of silo people into like what's the thing that they can deliver the fastest on the team, right? So purely you know someone works on this cool they can work on the next iteration of this and the next and the next and then everyone's kind of doing things in parallel in their silos. Like I don't think that scales really well. I think that's pretty dangerous. Um, but I do think it's a bit of a management gap when you have someone that's really good leave and then like there is, you know, a really challenging time for a long time. Like I said, in any situation, I think when you have someone good leave, there's going to be a gap. There's at least going to be a period where it's challenging. But if uh if it feels like everything's falling apart and it's not at some point working in the right direction, I'd say that's a management gap.

I mean, that doesn't mean that it's because the manager was terrible or anything like that. Just uh you know, some focus that was missing in terms of uh kind of balancing out different parts of the team. So I say that because that might be something that like I said a little bit earlier in this talk that at different points in your career you might be the person seeing the tech lead leave and at some point it's very likely you will be you know the tech lead on the team or the expert on the team that leaves and other people are are feeling the impact of that. So if I'm telling you that I when when it's really problematic, I think it's a management gap, maybe like you're not the manager and that's not your responsibility, not for you to worry about. Cool. Like that's that's fair.

But if you're like, hey, that's a crappy situation and like sure maybe it's a management gap. Maybe I can agree with Nick on that. Is there anything more that could be done or do we just say oh it's a management gap, not my problem? My take would be, you know, if you are someone who you observe, right, that someone else is some expert, they're a single point of failure, oh my god, if they were to leave, what would happen? Um, that could be something that you talk about in one-on- ones if that's a concern for you and you observe it. That could be something where like if uh you know, you're seeing that this person is responsible for some areas and you're like, "Hey, those are kind of interesting." like maybe that is a single point of failure and maybe that's something that I could help out with.

I think that's a great opportunity for conversations with your manager, right? These are these are really interesting one-on-one conversations to have. So, I think you could if you're aware of these types of things and you observe them like I think those are really cool conversations to be had, right? It 101's don't just have to be like a a status update. This cop is coming up really fast. The sheriff. I was telling my wife the other day that I for some reason when anytime I see the word sheriff, I don't think police. For some reason, the only imagery I have in my head when I hear Sheriff is like wild west, like cowboy boots with spurs. Like that's that's what sheriff is in my mind. And I don't know why. Okay. So, if you're in this position, right, these are conversations that if you have awareness, then maybe you could uh be having these conversations.

And on the flip side, if you are, you know, the tech lead, the expert, you're feeling this pressure, uh same same idea, right? This is a maybe a conversation you could have with your manager. Doesn't mean that automatically they can solve the problem and say, "Oh, no worries." Like, yes, you're the single point of failure. Let me snap my fingers and suddenly you're not. But I do think that that's good for raising awareness, right? Maybe maybe your manager wasn't aware. Maybe they are aware and it's a good reminder that like if you are also feeling that way um maybe it's something that you can partner on, right? Because you you might be kind of tossed into these scenarios uh regularly because you are an expert. It's the most effective thing for you to jump in and help or do something. And then you could have some uh aligned expectations around like, hey, next time this happens and I need to get tossed into helping with this.

Um maybe what we could do instead is like we could think about who else on the team could jump in and like I'll I'll partner with them to help them out and like kind of show them the ropes, but we should start doing this more proactively, right? So, um maybe we come up with an agreement that if there's, I don't know, like a a high severity incident or something, like sure, I'll go jump in to help, but um otherwise, like if it's just some focus in this area, maybe we can have Steve or Sally on the team jump in and like I'm happy to kind of coach them through and start ramping up some other people, right? But trying to be proactive, not from the manager perspective, I think is is super helpful. if you have awareness of this kind of thing. So, I'm gonna switch gears and maybe go at this from the other angle just because I'm driving to CrossFit right now and uh not too far away.

So, someone awesome leaves the team and maybe it's not so terrible after what does that look like, right? So, some people on the Reddit thread were kind of throwing this out there and I' I have seen this as well. Like sometimes what happens is uh not in a malicious way at all, right? You have someone on a team who's really awesome. I got to change lanes here one sec, but this guy's blocking me in. I have to get over three lanes of traffic. And I see my exit. Come on. I got two more lanes to go. You got to let me in, pal. God, what a nightmare. Okay, we did it just in time. Um, yeah. So, some people on the Reddit thread were saying that you have someone leave the team and it's actually not so bad because it creates this opportunity. Um, which sounds kind of funny, but like you have someone who was the go-to person, right?

They were always kind of put on the spot to go do the thing and they could do it effectively. There was almost like, it's not that there was no need for other people to do it, but if they were filling the gap, it's almost like there was no gap to be filled then. And so when they leave, some people were describing it as like it creates a vacuum, which I think is a really uh interesting word to use, right? Because if it's creating a vacuum or a void, it kind of like pulls other people into it. And uh I think that actually is what can happen, right? So it's almost like now you do have this need depending on what the scenario is. Like you have this need that's not being fulfilled. So like something has to happen or things are going to fall apart, right?

It's very similar to the other example except in this case there are people rising to the occasion. So you might have had people that um you know they are really great leaders but it's almost like they they didn't have what seemed like an opportunity to to start showcasing that. And it's almost like out of necessity, they're kind of like there's a bit of a forcing function that gets them going and then you start to kind of unlock this ability. And so I think this is a very real thing. Um I think like I can think of even in the last months I have an employee like this right that is uh that is historically great and there was a team change. So there's an opportunity and they're absolutely rising to the occasion. Is it a lot of work? Absolutely. Right. Is it uh is it difficult for them?

Is it challenging? Absolutely. Um has it been stressful? Absolutely. But are they talking through it? Are they being transparent about things? Are they uh asking for help where needed? Like absolutely. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like all of these things. And my point is that basically like the people in the comments were saying created a vacuum and then people are kind of pulled into it. And another super cool thing to mention is like while I'm talking about one employee in this case, there are also others who are like literally having the same kind of effect where they're like, hey, you know, this other person was uh fulfilling some of these expectations and like we know they have to get done. So, like I will do my part as well to help make this happen. Now, is it perfect? No. But like what is perfect, right? Like nothing's ever perfect.

So, I think this is honestly as good as it could possibly get. When you have someone who is awesome and they leave, there is a void. And I've had multiple people step up to help make this better. Are we going to periodically find gaps or go, "Oh like this person really knew that and like we actually don't really know this one now and like, oh man, that kind of sucks." Yep, that's going to happen. But the reality is that when you have people that are stepping up to help contribute to where there uh are gaps, um it's going to be these, you know, little pockets of like, oh, this is challenging, this is hard, or we don't know what to do here. um and we navigate it, right? I will do my absolute best to support them and that's like what I can sort of promise to them and if they're stepping up to try helping, I think that's, you know, that's all I could ask of them and I think it's amazing.

So, literally have seen that happening recently. I like to think that um I'm not saying that I'm not trying to position myself as being like the awesome person, but where I used to work before uh Microsoft like I had a lot of responsibility in some areas and when I was gone um you know I I know that the people that used to report up to me uh they've been able to do an incredible job like they've they've uh they've succeeded in ways that I I'm truly like truly uh I don't not s surprise is not the word because I I know they're very capable. I'm like I'm so proud to see that like in my absence they've been able to go above and far beyond like where I ever was. And to me that is like that's super cool, right? So, for myself leaving a team, seeing other people kind of step in, um, like that's all I could ask for, that was the worst attempt at parking I've ever seen.

But anyway, I'm at CrossFit. I thought that would be kind of fun to talk through. Be curious to hear from folks if they have examples of of that kind of thing. There's no parking. What the heck? Someone told me I can park over here on weekends. I'm going to have to re redo this parking job, though. Maybe I'll be in between the lines. Who knows? I can't see on the other side, but probably good enough. Cool. Um, yeah, if you have experiences like this, I'd love to hear about them in the comments. I think other people would appreciate them, too, if you're willing to share. But, uh, I think it's a very real thing that happens at different points in your career. And like I said, you will be on both sides of this. So, I think having awareness of it, uh, super helpful. So, thanks for watching.

If you have if you got questions about software engineering, career development, leave them below in the comments or go to codemute.com. You can submit stuff anonymously that way and I'll try my best to make a video response just for you and everyone else who watches the channel. Take care.