Coaching New Tech Leads¶

The transition from individual contributor to tech lead is one of the hardest in engineering careers. The skills that made someone an excellent engineer—deep focus, individual output, technical problem-solving—are necessary but insufficient for leadership. New tech leads must learn to multiply their impact through others, make decisions with incomplete information, and navigate ambiguity without the satisfaction of writing code all day.

Most organizations promote strong engineers into leadership roles and expect them to figure it out. Some do. Many struggle quietly, burning out or reverting to IC work while their teams drift without direction.

This page provides a coaching framework for supporting new tech leads through this transition: what to focus on in the first 90 days, what core skills to develop, and how to help them succeed without micromanaging.

The problem this playbook solves¶

New tech leads commonly face these challenges:

• Identity loss. They were valued for coding; now they're valued for outcomes they don't directly produce.
• Multiplier confusion. They don't know how to measure their impact when they're not shipping code.
• Decision paralysis. They're uncertain about when to make calls and when to defer.
• Relationship shifts. Yesterday's peers are today's reports. That's awkward.
• Time fragmentation. Their calendar fills up; deep work disappears.
• Failure to delegate. They do the work instead of developing others to do it.
• Loneliness. The peer group changes, and they may feel isolated.

Without support, these challenges compound. The new tech lead becomes a bottleneck, their team becomes dependent rather than autonomous, and everyone wonders why the promotion isn't working.

When to use this playbook¶

Use this approach when:

• Promoting an IC into a tech lead or team lead role.
• Onboarding a new tech lead hired externally.
• Supporting a tech lead who's struggling in their first year.
• Developing senior ICs who aspire to leadership.

The playbook is most valuable in the first 90 days, but the skills and coaching questions apply throughout the first year.

When this playbook isn't enough¶

This playbook covers the IC-to-tech-lead transition. It doesn't address:

• Tech lead to engineering manager. That's a different transition (managing managers, org design, etc.).
• Staff+ IC paths. Technical leadership without people management has its own challenges.
• Struggling tech leads beyond the first year. After the ramp period, persistent struggles suggest a different problem—maybe fit, maybe support, maybe system.
• Organizational dysfunction. If the team structure or expectations are broken, coaching the individual won't fix it.

Roles and responsibilities¶

The manager's job is to coach, not to do the tech lead's job for them. Resist the urge to step in when they struggle—that robs them of learning.

The first 90 days¶

The first 90 days are critical. Structure them deliberately.

Days 1–30: Observe and understand¶

The new tech lead's first instinct is often to change things. Resist that. The first month is for understanding:

• Learn the system. How does work flow? What are the dependencies? Where are the pain points?
• Build relationships. Meet every team member one-on-one. Understand their motivations, concerns, and expectations.
• Understand history. Why are things the way they are? What was tried before?
• Calibrate on expectations. What does success look like? What does the manager expect? What does the team expect?

Days 30–60: Take small actions¶

Now it's time to start influencing, but in small ways:

• Establish rituals. If they don't exist, introduce lightweight practices: one-on-ones, team syncs, planning sessions.
• Make one visible improvement. Pick a small, high-value change that demonstrates thoughtful leadership.
• Start delegating. Identify a task that could be owned by someone else and hand it off with support.
• Give feedback. Start practicing—both positive and constructive.

Days 60–90: Solidify and adjust¶

The final month of the ramp is about solidifying:

• Own a planning cycle. Lead sprint planning or a roadmap discussion.
• Navigate a difficult situation. Ideally something small—a disagreement, a missed deadline, a tricky stakeholder.
• Reflect and adjust. What's working? What isn't? What needs to change?
• Seek explicit feedback. From the manager, from the team, from stakeholders.

Core skills for tech leads¶

Beyond the first 90 days, these are the skills that separate effective tech leads from struggling ones:

1. Multiplying through others¶

The tech lead's output is the team's output. This requires:

• Delegation. Not just handing off tasks, but transferring ownership with context and support.
• Coaching. Helping team members grow, not just do.
• Removing blockers. Identifying and clearing obstacles so the team can move.
• Protecting focus. Shielding the team from distractions and unnecessary interruptions.

Coaching question: "What did you enable this week that wouldn't have happened without you?"

2. Making decisions with incomplete information¶

Tech leads rarely have all the information they want. They need to:

• Know when to decide. Not every decision needs deep analysis. Many can be made quickly and reversed.
• Know when to defer. Some decisions need more input, more data, or higher authority.
• Communicate decisions clearly. Explain the reasoning so others can learn from it and support it.
• Own the outcome. Even when the decision was collaborative, the tech lead is accountable.

Coaching question: "What decision are you avoiding? What would help you move forward?"

3. Technical judgment without doing the work¶

Tech leads need to stay technical while not doing all the technical work:

• Review without rewriting. Provide feedback that improves code without taking over.
• Guide architecture without dictating. Share perspective; let the team make decisions.
• Stay current without going deep. Maintain enough context to make good calls without getting lost in details.
• Know when to dive in. Some situations require hands-on involvement. Know when.

Coaching question: "Where did you provide technical direction this week? Where did you step back and let the team decide?"

4. Communication as leverage¶

Tech leads communicate constantly—to the team, to stakeholders, to leadership:

• Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF). Lead with the ask or the conclusion. Busy people skim.
• Adapting to audience. Technical details for engineers; outcomes for executives.
• Written clarity. In remote teams, writing is the primary medium. It needs to be clear.
• Active listening. Especially in one-on-ones. The team needs to feel heard.

Coaching question: "What communication misfired this week? What would you do differently?"

5. Navigating ambiguity¶

Much of leadership is operating without clear answers:

• Tolerating uncertainty. Not everything can be resolved immediately. That's okay.
• Creating structure. Imposing order on chaos through frameworks, priorities, and processes.
• Asking good questions. When unclear, clarify. Don't assume.
• Moving forward anyway. Paralysis is worse than imperfect action.

Coaching question: "What's the most ambiguous thing on your plate? How are you approaching it?"

6. Building trust and psychological safety¶

Teams perform better when they feel safe. Tech leads create that:

• Modeling vulnerability. Admitting uncertainty, mistakes, and gaps.
• Protecting people. Shielding the team from unfair blame or unreasonable demands.
• Giving feedback. Specific, timely, and kind. Avoiding hard conversations erodes trust.
• Following through. Doing what you said you'd do. Every time.

Coaching question: "Does your team feel safe bringing you bad news? How do you know?"

Coaching conversations: structure and questions¶

Weekly check-in (30–45 minutes)¶

In the first 90 days, meet weekly with the new tech lead. Use this structure:

1. Energy check. How are they feeling? What's their stress level?
2. Wins and challenges. What went well? What was hard?
3. Specific situation. Go deep on one situation—how did they handle it? What would they do differently?
4. Skill development. Which core skill is most relevant right now? How are they practicing it?
5. Support needs. What do they need from you?

Powerful coaching questions¶

Use these to help the new tech lead develop judgment, not dependence:

• "What options did you consider?"
• "What's the risk of doing nothing?"
• "Who else should be involved in this decision?"
• "What would you advise if this were someone else's problem?"
• "What's the one thing, if it went well, that would make the biggest difference?"
• "What's holding you back?"
• "What did you learn from that?"
• "How do you think the team perceived that?"

Avoid answering for them. Your job is to help them think, not to think for them.

Templates and artifacts¶

New tech lead 90-day plan template¶

# 90-Day Plan: [Name]

**Role:** Tech Lead, [Team]
**Start date:** [Date]
**Manager:** [Name]

## Days 1–30: Observe and understand

**Goals:**

- [ ] Complete 1:1 with every team member
- [ ] Understand current projects and priorities
- [ ] Identify top 3 pain points
- [ ] Calibrate on expectations with manager

**Key questions to answer:**

- Who's on the team and what motivates them?
- What's working well?
- What's broken?

## Days 30–60: Take small actions

**Goals:**

- [ ] Establish regular 1:1 cadence
- [ ] Make one visible improvement (TBD)
- [ ] Delegate at least one task with coaching
- [ ] Give constructive feedback to one person

**One improvement to make:** [TBD by day 30]

## Days 60–90: Solidify and adjust

**Goals:**

- [ ] Lead a planning cycle
- [ ] Navigate one difficult situation
- [ ] Collect 360 feedback
- [ ] Adjust approach based on learning

## Reflection prompts (day 90)

- What was harder than expected?
- What skill do I need to develop most?
- What would I do differently if starting over?
- What support do I still need?

Weekly coaching check-in agenda¶

# Tech Lead Coaching: [Name]

**Date:** [Date]
**Week:** [#] of 90-day ramp

## Check-in

- Energy level (1–10):
- Stress level (1–10):

## This week

- **Wins:** What went well?
- **Challenges:** What was hard?

## Deep dive

- **Situation:** [One specific situation to explore]
- **How did you handle it?**
- **What would you do differently?**
- **What did you learn?**

## Skill focus

- **This week's focus:** [e.g., delegation, decision-making]
- **Practice opportunity:** [Specific situation to practice]

## Support needs

- What do you need from me?

## Actions

- [ ] [Action item with owner]

Tech lead self-reflection questions (for use at 90 days)¶

# 90-Day Reflection

1. What part of the tech lead role energizes you? What drains you?

2. What surprised you about leading a team?

3. Where do you feel most confident? Where do you feel least confident?

4. What feedback have you received? What patterns do you see?

5. What would your team say you do well? What would they say you
   could improve?

6. What's one habit you want to build in the next 90 days?

7. What support do you need that you're not getting?

Signals that the transition is working¶

Failure modes and mitigations¶

For the new tech lead: advice¶

If you're the one making this transition, a few things to remember:

Your value is different now. You were promoted for being a great IC. Your job now is to make others great. That's uncomfortable at first. It gets easier.

You will miss coding. That's okay. Protect some time for technical work, but don't use it as an escape from leadership.

Ask for help. You don't have to figure this out alone. Your manager, your peers, your skip-level—they want you to succeed.

Embrace awkwardness. Managing former peers is weird. Name it. Have the conversation about how your relationship is changing. Pretending nothing changed makes it worse.

Be patient with yourself. This transition takes time—months, not weeks. Give yourself grace while maintaining high standards.

Related pages¶

• One-on-Ones — The primary coaching venue for tech leads
• Feedback Frameworks — Skills new tech leads need to develop
• Growth Plans — Structuring development for the tech lead role
• Succession Planning — Building the next generation of leaders
• Leadership Development — Broader leadership growth
• Team Ops: Onboarding 30/60/90 — Onboarding structure that applies to new roles