Tech Lead Fundamentals - Defining Your Role and Responsibilities

[03:47] Welcome and what this livestream is about

Andrew Murphy: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another Tech Leaders Launchpad livestream. If this is your first, I’m Andrew Murphy. I’m the founder of Tech Leaders Launchpad, and I do a bunch of things—one of them is these livestreams. When I started being a tech leader 15 years ago, there were no resources to help me understand what it means to be a tech leader. I was thrust into the deep end and expected to learn it on the job. That’s one of the reasons I started Tech Leaders Launchpad. We do training, coaching, and support for tech leaders, and one of the ways I help is by bringing on the people I learn from—people who make me better, my coaches and mentors in tech leadership. One of those is with me today. Andra, welcome to the livestream.

Andra Popa: Hi, Andrew. Hi, everybody. Thank you for having me.

Andrew Murphy: Of course! I always like to start off with an icebreaker question that’s been getting interesting answers and also probably lowering my bank account as I incessantly buy the things people recommend. Andra, what’s your favorite tech gadget that isn’t your computer or your smartphone?

[05:38] Icebreaker: favorite non-phone, non-computer tech gadget

Andra Popa: Surprisingly, I’m not a big fan of tech gadgets—maybe because I work with tech leaders. But I do love my smartwatch. I appreciate the steps, all the health features, and especially the vibrating alarm. I’ve had it a few years, and so does my husband. His new watch doesn’t vibrate when it rings in the morning—it has a loud sound. He wakes up first, and I told him, “Look, you need to return this watch. For me, it doesn’t work.” He said, “I’m not giving it back,” so now we have to find a solution because I don’t want to wake up earlier. You really appreciate functionalities only when you miss them.

Andrew Murphy: My wife often says I don’t get woken up by anything, and she’s a really light sleeper. I can sleep through her alarm completely, but as soon as my alarm goes off, she’s awake. Definitely the cause of some tensions! It’s just different people working in different ways—the colorful patchwork quilt of humanity is awesome.

Andra Popa: I always woke up when I heard something. I had a friend in school I’d call in the mornings and she still wouldn’t wake up—she’d miss exams! We’re different.

Andrew Murphy: Okay, the gadget I bought after a past livestream recommendation: an augmented reality headset that shows a virtual screen in front of you wherever your head is positioned. Perfect on a plane. You don’t need the tiny airline screen or to hunch over an iPad. You sit back and the screen floats in front of you. You can watch a movie, hook it up to a Nintendo Switch, an iPad, or a laptop—USB-C or HDMI in, so anything works.

Andra Popa: I haven’t heard of this!

Andrew Murphy: I hadn’t either, then I immediately went down the rabbit hole researching which one to get. I fly a lot for conferences and workshops. Living in Australia with family in Europe, I fly between Australia and Europe two to four times a year. It’s long—24 hours in the air, usually a 13–14 hour flight, then an 8-hour flight with a layover, and maybe another 2–3 hours in Europe. I don’t enjoy the flying; I enjoy what I do after I’ve flown. The headset makes it so much better. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about that—tempting as it is. We’re here to talk about tech leadership.

[10:41] Today’s topic and Andra’s background: defining the tech lead role

Andrew Murphy: Apart from being an amazing person and coach, one reason I asked you on is that you built a training course for Tech Leaders Launchpad that helps people understand the roles they have—how their role might not be what they expected, and how it might differ from someone with the same job title at another company. Can you use that as a jumping-off point to tell us about your background and why this topic matters to you?

Andra Popa: I’ve been a tech lead coach for four or five years (I don’t remember exactly!) and worked in software development for 15 years. I’ve coded, led teams, and been a tech lead many years. After transitioning to coaching, I noticed new tech leads were overwhelmed and unclear. They just did what everyone said the role was and assumed others knew better. I had a client I supported through a 3–4 month transition who said the biggest difference was doing the assignments: having conversations to find out what he was supposed to do and setting boundaries. That’s how I created the course. I didn’t do that when I transitioned; I assumed they knew and tried to do everything. That leads to overwhelm. It’s important to know your limits—we’re human and can’t do everything even if we want to.

[13:36] Why tech lead roles vary across companies (and revisiting expectations)

Andrew Murphy: Such an important point. Even with the same job title, the job can be very different elsewhere.

Andra Popa: Especially for tech lead. A Scrum Master is pretty standard—ideas are clearer. But tech lead expectations vary across companies: more project management in one place; client-facing in another; or not. You need clarity on what your role is in this company.

Andrew Murphy: And even if you’ve been successful as a tech lead, if you change team or company—or someone new joins—the split of responsibilities can change. This isn’t a once-and-done exercise; you have to ask these questions again and again.

Andra Popa: Great point. Changing jobs can be frustrating because you’ve done it one way that worked, and in the new place they want something different. You have to align. Bring what worked before, talk with your manager, and reach an agreement.

Andrew Murphy: It’s not just about your desires—it’s about what the team and your boss need from you.

[15:33] Live Q&A invitation

Andrew Murphy: Quick note for anyone watching live: the reason we do these as a livestream and not just a YouTube video is so you can ask us questions. If you’re watching on LinkedIn or YouTube, post a comment—we’ll see it and respond. If you’re watching after the fact, we’ll talk about how you can ask afterwards. But if you’re live, this is your chance to get our thoughts on your situation.

[16:19] Early leadership mistakes: from having answers to enabling solutions

Andrew Murphy: What did you struggle with most when you moved into leadership? For me: I started as the person who answered all the questions. I had built the system from scratch and knew exactly what every class did and how to change things. So when work came in, I’d tell someone: change this line in this class, that line in that class—it’ll work. That works for a small team short-term, but it doesn’t scale. My team got frustrated—they couldn’t come up with solutions themselves. I learned the separation between problem and solution: my team needed me to give them problems and let them own the solutions.

Andra Popa: That resonates. For me, it was coding expectations. I jumped into the role with many expectations—reports, client talks, various tasks—and I stopped coding. I started working more and more so I could still code in the evenings. I’d finish incomplete tasks for others. I’d tell myself, “I haven’t done anything today,” because I didn’t have a tangible deliverable. As a tech lead, you resolve fewer bugs and finish fewer tasks yourself. Mentoring and conversations don’t feel like “producing” something. I’d take a “simple” task and still couldn’t do it due to constant interruptions. Over time I learned I needed to choose what’s more important. Satisfaction comes differently. Coding should depend on project and team needs—sometimes 80%, sometimes 0%.

Andrew Murphy: Exactly—the feedback horizon and clarity both change. As an engineer, you get immediate, clear feedback from tests. As a tech lead, how do you know if you’re doing a good job? The signal is slower and more ambiguous.

Andra Popa: Yes—the job is about something different. Accept that coding percentage varies with the project and team, and do what’s needed.

[21:21] Unwritten responsibilities: who you want to be as a leader

Andrew Murphy: In your course you talk about “unwritten responsibilities.” What are they, and why are they important?

Andra Popa: There are common tech lead tasks—mentoring, making technical decisions, refining the backlog. The course encourages conversations to make expectations measurable: “I expect you to do X, Y, Z,” and you write it down. Then there are the unwritten ones: who you want to be as a leader. Your manager can’t impose that. It can’t be measured. You choose how you want to lead, and you grow into it—soft skills, communication, empathy, managing your emotions. You can’t promise “I won’t get upset,” but you can take responsibility and work on yourself with courses, coaching—whatever works.

Andrew Murphy: As soon as you put on the tech lead hat, those skills matter—even in a small team.

[24:00] Do you need to be the best technical person on the team?

Andrew Murphy: You encourage people to ask: do you need to be the best technical person? Why is that a challenge, and how should people think about it?

Andra Popa: It’s okay to be rusty at coding. Promotions often happen because you’re technically strong, so you think you must always be the best. But the role is about something else. You will become rusty, and if someone asks for help and you don’t know, you might feel ashamed—“I’m the tech lead; I should know.” It’s fine to say “I don’t know.” Point them to someone who does. These days, you can even start with ChatGPT. It’s challenging with more experienced developers—some were 20 years older than me. I confused role with experience. I thought I didn’t have the right to ask them for updates. But my job wasn’t to be better than them; it was to be accountable, to know what’s happening, and to manage delivery respectfully. You need an overview of the software, yes, but you don’t need to be the best. It’s great to have people who are the best.

Andrew Murphy: I phrase it as the difference between having the answer and making sure the question gets answered. As tech lead, you might not have the answer—but you still own getting the question answered.

Andra Popa: I remember meeting with other tech leads who were always talking about new technologies. I thought, “I’m a bad tech lead; I don’t research in my spare time.” Then I realized I was doing a great job. Give me a new project with a new framework, and I’ll adjust. I don’t need to know it ahead of time. They were passionate about something I wasn’t, and that didn’t mean I wasn’t good at my job.

Andrew Murphy: As you gain experience, you see there are few fundamentally different concepts. Much transfers across frameworks, languages, and tools. You’re not learning MongoDB from scratch; you’re learning the differences between MongoDB and DynamoDB. If you know Java, you can learn Python. Be open—don’t get attached.

I also had a role overseeing ~100 people across mobile, web, games, cloud, UI/UX, data architecture. There’s no way to be the best in all those areas. Setting your benchmark as “be the best technologist” sets you up for failure.

Andra Popa: At that scope, there’s no coding.

[31:14] Expectations vs agreements: aligning your role with stakeholders

Andrew Murphy: You said there’s a difference between what your role is about and what others expect from you. Advice for leaders who’ve clarified their role but face disconnects with what others think they should do?

Andra Popa: I talk about expectations vs agreements. Someone might expect you to be the best technical person—and you’re not. Surface expectations in conversation. Ask your manager and team, “What do you expect from me?” They may not know consciously. You don’t have to do everything they expect. Make an agreement: “I get that you expect X. My role is Y; I’ll help with A and B. For C, please go to this person.” A client example: everyone came to the tech lead for technical questions. Now they have two lead devs. The tech lead communicated that people can go directly to them. Set expectations for the future. Even if they don’t state, “We expect you to be the best,” you can proactively communicate: “You can count on these dev leads for deep technical needs; I won’t cover that.” You’re responsible for dealing with expectations if you want the relationship to work.

Andrew Murphy: It’s not your fault they have some expectation, but it’s your responsibility to adjust it into an agreement.

Andra Popa: Not addressing this causes conflict. Someone in my pilot program told me they saw an argument and recognized the problem: expectations without agreements. If you do this ahead of time—communicate what you do and don’t do—you prevent a lot of upset and can redirect needs to the right people.

[37:12] Transitioning responsibilities while staying accountable

Andrew Murphy: They still have that need. You’re not giving up accountability; you’re redirecting. If the person you redirect to leaves or there’s friction, step in to help the relationship. It’s a transition—be flexible for a month or two. The goal is to hand things off, but you still own outcomes.

Andra Popa: Exactly. It takes time. People may be comfortable coming to you and not someone new. Be flexible but work toward 100% handoff.

Andrew Murphy: Also, your job title changes instantly in an HR system—from senior engineer to tech lead—but your day-to-day and others’ expectations don’t change instantly. Those take time. When I got promoted and a tech lead stepped into my role, they messaged me three days later: “I didn’t realize what you did all day.” A lot of our job is invisible and sometimes involves protecting the team (to a degree).

Andra Popa: When I became a tech lead, my tech lead called and said, “I need to go to another project, you take over.” I thought I knew what he did. I had no clue—I’d only seen the surface interactions. It’s overwhelming to move from one-on-one with code to all these interactions and expectations. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed and even want to go back to being an engineer. Give it a few months before deciding it isn’t for you. Start with these conversations to create clarity and boundaries so you can enjoy your job. The role is part of who you are, not all of you.

[41:24] Q&A prompt, time zones, and tennis talk

Andrew Murphy: I can’t believe we’re already nearing the top of the hour. If you’re watching live, please ask a question! My audience is often Australia-based, and it’s the end of the day there—maybe that explains the quiet. I’m hopped up on caffeine to get through this. For me it’s 8am here.

Andra Popa: Time zones are funny. I’ve been in the Netherlands a long time, and I’m a big tennis fan. For the Australian Open, we can’t watch live unless we wake up at night. I’m very aware of time zones!

Andrew Murphy: And because Australia goes into summer time when Europe leaves it, the differences shift—11 hours to 9 hours, etc. Not fun to juggle with clients across US coasts, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

[43:13] Why Andra became a coach

Andrew Murphy: Last question: why did you move from an internal tech lead career to helping from the outside?

Andra Popa: I’ve always been passionate about self-development. In my spare time I wasn’t reading tech—I was doing communication and leadership training. I did a two-year program, flying to London every month. In the second year I coached first-year participants and loved it. I got great feedback and decided to get certified as a coach. During the training—where we coached each other—I realized this is what I want to do. I loved writing code, but I’m passionate about connecting with people and making a difference. I was scared—finances, everything. I spoke with my husband, we made a plan: I’d work a few more months and then go for it. It didn’t go exactly as expected—of course—but now this is what I do and I love it. I still sometimes work on my website or small things and think, “I miss coding,” but this is my path.

Andrew Murphy: Same—I learned to code before high school. I’ve been coding for more of my life than not. Tech Leaders Launchpad lets me tickle both sides of me: I code the platform a bit while spending most of my time helping leaders.

[47:05] Why leadership training and support matter (and a shocking stat)

Andra Popa: It’s really important. When I started as a tech lead, I didn’t know there were courses. Communication, leadership, clarity—these really change how you do the job. Many go back to being engineers or become architects because the leadership transition is overwhelming and they lack awareness and support.

Andrew Murphy: A stat that amazes and depresses me: on average, there’s a 10-year gap between someone’s first promotion into leadership and their first leadership training. Imagine being made a software engineer, mechanic, or doctor and not getting training for 10 years. Leadership isn’t just something you osmosis into; training accelerates growth.

Andra Popa: I see two kinds of people: those who think “I already know communication and leadership,” so they don’t seek help; and those who think “I’m not good at communicating and can’t change.” I used to think I couldn’t express myself clearly and that it was fixed. It’s not. For both types, do a training. You’ll be surprised.

Andrew Murphy: The Dunning–Kruger effect is real. Many who think they’re a natural 8 are really a 5 or 6. Either way, training helps. And learning alongside other tech leads is powerful—seeing others’ struggles (often the same as yours) normalizes things and accelerates learning.

[51:03] Closing, where to follow, and format changes

Andrew Murphy: Andra, thank you—it’s been an amazing chat. Everyone: follow Andra on LinkedIn—she posts great content.

If you’ve enjoyed this, a couple of links: scan the QR code to follow me on LinkedIn. I do these livestreams monthly and post regularly on tech leadership. I also have a monthly newsletter where I curate what I find interesting—articles, books, videos, conferences—to help people become better tech leaders. It’s also the best place to see where I’ll be in person. Over the next few months I’ll be in Melbourne, Oslo, Wellington, Auckland, Brisbane, and Sydney. If you want to meet up, subscribe and say hi—I love chatting.

We’re also changing the livestream format based on feedback for more interactivity. Going forward, we’ll split it into two sections: the guest conversation like you saw today, and a second-half Q&A using questions solicited prior to the livestream. Connect with me on LinkedIn or email me your questions, and I’ll get through as many as I can. Guests will chip in too.

Andra Popa: If you have questions about the course, message me on LinkedIn or add a comment—I’ll happily respond.

Andrew Murphy: I love connecting people to trainers—it helps more than just videos. Thank you, Andra, and thank you everyone for watching. See you next time!