Is rotating the lead developer a good or bad idea?
- by Renesis
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, suppose I am likely the best candidate for lead developer — how do I recommend that we avoid this approach without looking like it's merely for selfish reasons? (In other words, the team is small enough that anyone recommending a single leader is likely to appear to be recommending themselves — especially those who have been part of the team longer.)
