Skip to main content

OUT NOW: 'So you think you can lead a team?'

Image
By

A Series of Random Context Switches 

So You Think You Can Lead A Team? is a firsthand look into what team leadership means. Bringing real world examples into everyday workplace situations, So You Think… offers practical advice and support for those considering a position in leadership, as well as advancement for those already established in their role.

Although rooted in software development, this guide can be applied in almost any work scenario where project management, team mentoring and decision making are key.

Written by Paul Grenyer, someone who has been led and now leads, the book pulls advice and input from professionals across the full spectrum of software engineering to distill what leadership means in a practical sense, and how best to achieve the best from a team, as well as giving them your best.

Foreword by Stephen Cresswell
Edited by Harvey Gwynn
Illustrations by Sam Berrington

Buy Now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FVZHWT6X/

ISBN: 979-8-269-11432-3

 

Praise for 'So You Think You can Lead A Team?'

When I first met Paul as a fellow software engineer I can't say I'd have immediately identified him as a future team leader. Though it might not sound like one, this is a resounding recommendation for his book on team leading. It isn't a role Paul went into with all the skills already under his belt. I doubt many people do. What matters is that he has paid attention, reflected and, most importantly, cared passionately about learning how to be the leader his teams deserve. He's learned by careful observation, and in this book he shares what he's learned, making it a really practical guide for others to follow in his footsteps.


Gail Ollis Software Engineer. Lecturer. Mentor.


As a topic, team leadership has the potential for dryness, platitudes and eye-glazing, but Paul tells it differently. This is a book told from the heart and from the trenches. Leadership is built on a foundation of communication that is compassionate, considered and continuous. Developers and development organisations often get wrapped up in a narrow view of their work, but there is more of value than just the work. And, to lead, Paul reminds you leadership is about teamwork not leaderwork, focus on delegation not control, distributing work rather than hoarding it. Delivered with stories, experience and honesty, Paul paints the bigger picture with fine brushstrokes.


Kevlin Henney Independent Consultant, Trainer, Writer & Speaker.


Paul provides some helpful guide rails for anyone taking their first steps as a team leader, based on his own experiences and reflections. He also shows how his own thinking is developing, even though the process of writing the book. A straightforward, easy read for those new to leading tech teams, with contributions from a wide range of colleagues throughout.


Colin Fenn Founder, Your Leadership Footprint, Expert in Leadership Development & Executive Coaching.


"So You Think You Can Lead A Team?" is a practical and relatable guide to leadership. Paul shares honest stories from his own journey, including mistakes, insights and what really works when stepping into a team lead role. The writing is clear, down to earth and full of actionable insights you can apply immediately. Whether you’re a new team lead or an experienced engineer looking to build stronger relationships and communication within your team, this book will give you both confidence and direction.


Holly Stibbon Managing Director, 101 Smart Limited.


An honest tale of a struggle many people face, this is the furthest I've gotten into a book in decades. Paul's openness shines through in an almost biographical format, where he takes us along his journey, sharing not just the insights but the context behind them. We learn together. Packed with perfect tidbits and nuggets of information, this is an efficient and enjoyable read.


Alex Barfield Developer. Organiser. Human.


Making the transition from valued individual contributor to valued leader of teams is tough. Paul Grenyer offers a well-balanced mix of personal experience and trusted opinion to build a solid set of ‘do’s & don’ts’. A recommended read for future, new or challenged leaders in software teams. Nice one, Paul!


Jim Marshall Chief Revenue Officer at Aibly, Leadership Team Facilitator, Speaker on Agentic AI & the Future of Work.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Write Your Own Load Balancer: A worked Example

By
I was out walking with a techie friend of mine I’d not seen for a while and he asked me if I’d written anything recently. I hadn’t, other than an article on data sharing a few months before and I realised I was missing it. Well, not the writing itself, but the end result. In the last few weeks, another friend of mine, John Cricket , has been setting weekly code challenges via linkedin and his new website, https://codingchallenges.fyi/ . They were all quite interesting, but one in particular on writing load balancers appealed, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and write up a worked example. You’ll find my worked example below. The challenge itself is italics and voice is that of John Crickets. The Coding Challenge https://codingchallenges.fyi/challenges/challenge-load-balancer/ Write Your Own Load Balancer This challenge is to build your own application layer load balancer. A load balancer sits in front of a group of servers and routes client requests across all of the serv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Remember to Delegate: The Triangle of Trust

By
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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catalina-Ant for Tomcat 7

By
I recently upgraded from Tomcat 6 to Tomcat 7 and all of my Ant deployment scripts stopped working. I eventually worked out why and made the necessary changes, but there doesn’t seem to be a complete description of how to use Catalina-Ant for Tomcat 7 on the web so I thought I'd write one. To start with, make sure Tomcat manager is configured for use by Catalina-Ant. Make sure that manager-script is included in the roles for one of the users in TOMCAT_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml . For example: <tomcat-users> <user name="admin" password="s3cr£t" roles="manager-gui, manager-script "/> </tomcat-users> Catalina-Ant for Tomcat 6 was encapsulated within a single JAR file. Catalina-Ant for Tomcat 7 requires four JAR files. One from TOMCAT_HOME/bin : tomcat-juli.jar and three from TOMCAT_HOME/lib: catalina-ant.jar tomcat-coyote.jar tomcat-util.jar There are at least three ways of making the JARs available to Ant: Copy the JARs into th...
22 comments
Read more