Over the years I've had to lead many software developers, and it's become much easier since letting go of being seen as "the expert".

Even if I’m only leading a few people, there’s always too much work and I have to choose really carefully what I do.

If you’ve watched any of my other videos you know I’m a big fan of teams where there’s less management.

But whether someone is officially recognized as a “lead developer” or not, most teams usually have people on them who are more experienced.

And people naturally seem to take ownership for areas of the product they’re most interested in.

Soon they can start being seen as a leader around that area or idea.

Maybe that’s you, or maybe you’re considering stepping into a role where you’ll be leading developers to do something with the software.

In my career I’ve found it’s really easy to get overwhelmed when I’m leading other developers.

Meeting with the business, supporting developers, and still trying to get work done on the product myself can feel impossible.

You’ve probably heard the saying “give someone a fish, feed them for a day - but teach someone to fish and feed them for a lifetime”.

But even though I know this, it can be hard to let other developers do more to help if it’s going to take longer than just doing it myself.

In this video, I share how I’ve had more time to support my team when I encourage other developers to have more responsibility, and you can too.

Visit my site to watch the full video (or listen as a podcast):

📺 Watch or 🎧 Listen

Skip to points in the video:

01:47 How Leads Get Overwhelmed
04:18 You Can't "Know It All"
05:19 Clarify Your Role As Team Helper
06:30 Delegate Research
07:39 Delegate Information Requests
07:39 Be Forgiving Of Mistakes