So you think you can lead a team? I’ve been talking and writing a lot about leading a software engineering team in 2025. I started thinking about it more deeply the year before when I decided to give a colleague, who was moving into team leading, some advice: 'Doing the work' isn't the only way to add value Remember to delegate Pick your battles Talk to your team every day Out of this came a talk, “So you think you can lead a team?” which I gave at work, at meetups and at conferences in various different formats during the first quarter of 2025. Here I am looking at Remember to Delegate and an idea which came out of discussion around the talk, The Triangle of Trust, in more detail. Delegate Delegation is a crucial skill for any team lead, yet it is often one of the most challenging aspects of leadership to master. Many leaders, particularly those who have risen through the ranks as individual contributors, struggle to let go of tasks, fearing a loss of control or a dip in ...
Apparently ‘So Good’ stood in at the last minute for someone else who couldn’t make the tour. I know established bands like to help out new bands, and that’s to be applauded, but So Good’s reinvention of Shampoo with worse lyrics should probably have been passed over. Having said that, they gave it their all and they clearly believe in what they’re doing. Skunk Anansie, for me, were at their best with Stoosh. Post Orgasmic Chill and Sunburnt and Paranoid are good, but it’s always the singles that stand out. A good third to a half of their set went by before I recognised anything. It didn’t matter though, it all sounded so good. Ace is a better riff writer than he is a live player. His playing didn’t sound right in lots of places and for one song his guitar was clearly out of tune. The crowd didn’t care though. Every song received an enthusiastic response. Skin jumped into the crowd on several occasions, catching her minder out the first time - his face was a picture. At one point she r...