Dev leader’s role?

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A development lead manages the coding process of a project, not employee issues. They review project planning and assign work to developers based on their skills. They oversee progress and ensure functionality, and help with debugging and testing.

A development lead is someone who works to manage the work of other application developers. Unlike managerial positions in information technology, the development lead does not work to oversee workplace issues such as employee performance issues, team assignments, and human resource concerns. The development lead, instead, manages the process of building, deploying, and debugging a project’s code. The leader’s work with other application developers revolves around this oversight of the coding process, not the employee.

Planning is the first stage of the software development lifecycle. The development lead, in most cases, enters the project somewhere in the planning process and talks about what the development team can complete. The development lead’s role will be to review what the business analyst and the customer decided about a project’s timelines and resource allocation, and to determine whether the requirements will work with the skills of the software developers.

After the project planning phase is complete, the development lead starts rolling out pieces of code. While these leads sometimes haven’t worked on active coding for years, they need to understand how complex each part of a project will be. The lead will assign work to each development team member based on how advanced the developer’s skills are. Development team members will work independently on their code, while the lead usually oversees their progress and makes any necessary adjustments to assignments.

During the active coding phase of software development, the leader works to ensure that all parts of the program are progressing. It will also verify that the overall functionality of the project works. Sometimes sections of code don’t work well together, and the lead will need to work with the programmers to make the appropriate changes. The programming lead can also intervene in coding if there are concerns about the project schedule or a specific developer’s ability to meet requirements.

A software development leader’s job is not complete with the end of active coding on a project. The lead will help with the debugging and testing process. During this time, development leads check all code to ensure it has the required functionality in the development environment. Once the code enters the production database, the development lead is on hand to deal with any issues that arise, whether these are simple syntax errors or significant issues with how the code behaves once deployed.




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