Is rotating the lead developer a good or bad idea?

Posted by NickC on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by NickC
Published on 2011-03-02T04:35:52Z Indexed on 2012/08/27 21:55 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 428

Filed under:

project-management

|

team

|

co-workers

|

team-leader

I work on a team that has been flat organizationally since it's creation several months ago. My manager is non-technical and this means that our whole team is responsible for decision-making.

My manager is beginning to realize that there are several benefits to having a lead developer, both for his sake (a single point of contact and single responsible party for tasks) and ours (dispute resolution, organized technical guidance, etc.).

Because the team has been flat, one concern is that picking one lead developer may discourage the others. A non-developer suggested to my manager that rotating the lead developer is a possible way to avoid this issue. One developer would be lead one month, another the next, and so on.

Is this a good idea? Why or why not?

Keep in mind that this means all developers — All developers are good, but not necessarily equally suited to leadership.

And if it is not, how do I recommend that we avoid this approach without seeming like it's merely for selfish reasons?

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about project-management

The Rules of the Project Management Game

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
How can you keep a project moving smoothly? Here are a guidelines for constructing rules to keep your projects moving forward. >>> More
A Project Management Office is More Powerful Than a Locomotive

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Project success is often won or lost in the planning stages, that why having a project management office can be a boon to your success rate. Michelle LaBrosse will now extol the virtues of adding a PMO to your operation. >>> More
A Project Management Office is More Powerful Than a Locomotive

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Project success is often won or lost in the planning stages, that why having a project management office can be a boon to your success rate. Michelle LaBrosse will now extol the virtues of adding a PMO to your operation. >>> More
A Project Management Office is More Powerful Than a Locomotive

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Project success is often won or lost in the planning stages, that why having a project management office can be a boon to your success rate. Michelle LaBrosse will now extol the virtues of adding a PMO to your operation. >>> More
Recovering from Disaster Through Project Management

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
When disaster strikes, don't leave home without Project Management. Explore seven Project Management rules to help you when you find yourself looking for a magic wand to turn disaster into recovery. >>> More

Related posts about team

Is your team is a high-performing team?

as seen on DotNetBlocks - Search for 'DotNetBlocks'
As a child I can remember looking out of the car window as my father drove along the Interstate in Florida while seeing prisoners wearing bright orange jump suits and prison guards keeping a watchful eye on them. The prisoners were taking part in a prison road gang. These road gangs were formed to… >>> More
Deleting Team Project in Team Foundation Server 2010

as seen on ASP.net Weblogs - Search for 'ASP.net Weblogs'
I’m seeing a lot of people still using some old ways ported from TFS 2008 to delete a team project like TFSDeleteProject utility. In TFS 2010 the administration tasks are made very easy to help you in a lot of administration stuff, for the deletion point specially you can navigate to the… >>> More
Week 24: Karate Kid Chops, The A-Team Runs, and the OPN Team Delivers

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
The 80's called and they want their movies back. With the summer line-up of movies reminding us to wax on and wax off one can start to wonder if there is anything new to look forward to this summer. The OPN Team is happy to report that - yes - there is. As Hannibal would say "I love it when a plan… >>> More
Load Balancing between Team Build agents in Team Foundation Server 2008

as seen on Code Project - Search for 'Code Project'
Load Balancing between Team Build 2008 agents in Team Foundation Server 2008 >>> More
Messing with the Team

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
Good Product Owners will help the team be the best that they can be. Bad product owners will mess with the team and won’t care about the team. If you’re a product owner, seek to do good and avoid bad behavior at all costs. Remember, this is for YOUR benefit and you have much power given to you… >>> More