Partners in Crime

Let's talk about the relationship between the Project Manager and the Technical Lead on a project.

"Technical Lead" doesn't mean technical, it means product or subject matter oriented. I've thought about using the term Product Lead but that sounds like Product Owner or Product Manager and can be confusing unless you're using a scaled Agile methodology.

The Project Manager is accountable for the project. The Technical Lead is accountable for the product or service that the project is creating or setting up. I see the project as encompassing the product during the timeline of the project, but the service will live on beyond the project and may already exist in a different state prior to the project. Optimally, the person responsible for the product or service in operation is assigned as the Technical Lead.

So what does that mean for the relationship between the Project Manager and the Technical Lead? My best analogy is partners in crime. The Project Manager and Technical Lead should be chatting or texting regularly, sharing insider information that will explain the who, what, where, when, and why, pray tell, is this happening!? They will learn to trust each other and will share what's learned when the other is absent. The Technical Lead is accountable for making decisions about the product the project is producing, and the Project Manager is accountable for making sure decisions get made.

Trying to perform both roles is very painful. I've done it, and I don't recommend it. You'll find yourself having conflicts of interest and working insane hours. And it means neither role is performed as well as it could be.

The Project Manager is responsible for scope control, time management, cost, quality, team and resource management, communications, risk, procurement, stakeholder engagement, and the big picture. A Technical Lead acting as the project manager will want to add scope, manhandle the schedule, ignore the invoices, assume the quality is good, ignore risks, ride the team to exhaustion, hide the work of the project until it's ready for prime time, and terrorize the vendors. That's not unusual. It's not even bad. It's a sign of a passionate subject matter expert driven to succeed. But these behaviors often threaten success and that's why someone else needs to be accountable for the success of the project.

When I'm assigned a project that doesn't have a technical lead, I rectify that. Otherwise, analysis paralysis among the team members will set in and the timeline will be shot. Sometimes organizations need to realize that the thing the project is producing will need resources to maintain it, long-term. I've often advocated for job description changes for my technical leads. I've advocated for professional development that resulted in certifications. It's hard to advocate for yourself. That's why the project manager is accountable for the team and resource management. I could give more examples, but I think you get the picture.

My best projects were defined by this partnership. And I find that the team, stakeholders, and vendors are reassured when they see it working well.