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[Tech Leads] How technical do technical leaders have to be?
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Workshops for technical leaders, in London and Cornwall How technical do technical leaders have to be? Are you worried that you’re too hands-on, or not hands-on enough? Are you exhausting yourself trying to keep up with every technical detail in your domain? Sometimes individual contributors are promoted to leadership positions and worry that they won’t be as hands-on as they used to be. Sometimes they worry that they no longer have time to stay up to date with modern technology and / or the state of their team’s code base(s). Sometimes it’s the other way around: Somebody who has never been hands-on in the technical realm is given a leadership position, and worries they’re “not technical enough”. On Mon 16th and Tue 17th June 2025, I'll be running a workshop titled How to deal with the “technical” in “technical leadership” at LDX3 (the reboot of Lead Dev London), designed to help attendees overcome their worries and figure out the best attitude and approach for them and their circumstances. Then on Fri 4th July 2025, I'll be in Cornwall at Agile on the Beach, running a similar workshop but in game format - titled Technical Leaders for Humanity – the helpful card game - where participants will make snap decisions that will earn them points as well as laughs, but will then have an opportunity to explore those decisions in more detail. Takeaways from both workshops: These are both fantastic events - two of my annual favourites. LDX3 will be a huge gathering of technical leadership, and Agile on the Beach will have a boat party and a beach party! In Cornwall! What's not to love? And I can offer an exclusive 15% off the LDX3 ticket price with the discount code CLARE15. Book your tickets and secure a slot now at LDX3 or Agile on the Beach. Talk on Continuous Integration Or if you're at the other end of the country, why not come see me at BCS Edinburgh on the evening of Wed 7th May ’25 for my talk Continuous Integration - that's not what they meant? Revamping my Offerings In other news, I'm currently working on a revamp of my main offerings, and I'll be sharing updates in this newsletter. If you're interested in resources aimed at technical leaders and software engineers, or you're a fellow freelance interested in the techniques I'm using to reboot my career, or you just want to follow what I'm up to, keep an eye on this newsletter. |
Clare Sudbery
Don't miss my next post! Subscribe to my newsletter and learn a host of useful tips about coding with agentic AI, as well as learn a bunch of useful stuff about effective technical leadership.
This week I am officially "on retreat". I haven't actually left my house because budget, but what I have done is cancel all meetings, turn off all notifications, and I'm not doing any small admin tasks or replying to messages unless they're urgent. It started because I was getting frustrated about how much time each week was devoted to "business as usual", and how hard it was to find large chunks of focused time for the following activities: Reading in depth articles, watching videos etc...
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You’re constantly balancing competing demands — supporting your team, meeting delivery expectations, advocating for engineering health, responding to leadership and general admin. The result can be a relentless cycle of context switching, long hours, and the sense that you’re never quite doing enough. You may suffer from irritability, concentration difficulties, or even resentment toward the role you once enjoyed. At the same time, the constant stream of meetings, messages, and tickets in...