Most software developers would make lousy managers, but many of the experienced developers that I have met and worked with have more to offer in terms of technical leadership than they share with their managers and team. As an industry, we need you to leverage your experience for the benefit of us all. In this session we will examine some clues that you may be ready to "level up". We'll discuss when and how to appropriately exercise technical leadership and when to keep our mouths shut. Attendees will leave this session with a toolkit of tactics to influence their teams, companies and clients to make better choices in the pursuit of greater user value.

1. Leveling Up
Assuming Technical Leadership
H. Alan Stevens

2. nerdhiveindustries.com

3. Contact Me
Slides: speakerdeck.com/alanstevens
Email/IM: alanstevens@gmail.com
Website: halanstevens.com
Twitter: @alanstevens

4. Technical
competence
is assumed!

5. •Trust
•Tell a story
•Value others
What you need to know:

6. Leadership is
not a formal
role assigned
from without

7. Leadership
Myths

8. Leadership
Is Innate

9. Leadership is
possessing
power over
others

10. Leaders are
positively
influential

11. Leaders
entirely control
group
outcomes

12. All groups
have a
designated
leader

13. Group
members
resist leaders

14. What Is
Leadership?

15. Leadership is
an attitude
you embody

16. Leadership
requires
pushing back

17. Leadership
Means
Accepting
Reality

18. Budget
Scope
Schedule

19. Become
immune to
hype

20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle

21. How do
I lead?

22. Trust

23. Food

24. Humor

25. Safety

26. Tell a
story

27. Emotions
not Facts

28. Use
metaphor

29. Invite
people on
a journey

30. Focus on a
vision, not a
task or an
objective

31. Value
Others

32. Encourage others
to value you by
demonstrating that
you value them

33. Raise the
value of the
whole team

34. You can't raise
yourself up by
keeping
others down

35. Convey an
abundance
mindset

36. A players hire A players
B players hire C players

37. A players hire
A+ players, not
merely A players
Guy Kawasaki

38. We're told we all
need to be leaders,
but that would be
ineffective

39. A Visual
Example

40. http://sivers.org/ff

41. It is the first
follower that
transforms a lone
nut into a leader

42. There is no
movement
without the
first follower

43. New followers
emulate other
followers, not
the leader

44. Courageously
follow and show
others how to
follow

45. When you find a
lone nut doing
something
great...

46. Have the guts
to be the first
person to stand
up and join in

47. Being a first
follower is an
under-appreciated
form of leadership

52. •Trust
•Tell a story
•Value others
What you need to know:

53. Be willing
and prepared
to stand out

54. Thanks For Listening!
Slides: speakerdeck.com/alanstevens
Email/IM: alanstevens@gmail.com
Website: halanstevens.com
Twitter: @alanstevens