I was recently asked to take on a new role as senior development lead. While I have worked as a technical lead before, this is the first time that I will be working as a manager. Fortunately the leadership of my team recognized that and found a mentor for me who is a developer I deeply respect. I just met with him over lunch and these are some of the highlights:

• There is no limit to your technical capacity. Always think about how to grow yourself technically. A lot of people, including training programs, assert that senior developers are expected to have maxed out their technical potential. But my mentor strongly disagrees. I think that he is right. If I objectively look at where I stand and, for instance, where my mentor stands, there is a large gap. I need to have more depth in diverse problem spaces.
• Never question people’s motives. This is not to say you should be naive. One can be aware of motives but not factor that in. It is much better to assume the best of people and work under that assumption.
• Realize that you are smarter than most people. Be sure of yourself and trust in your judgement. This is not an advice to be egotistic or narcissistic but rather an advice to believe in oneself. It is too easy to take opinions from other people for granted without asking the right questions. Also, when people are polarized about something, ultimately you have to decide for yourself what you think is right and also what you are comfortable with building. Interestingly enough, I have heard this advice from several people, including distinguished engineers.
• Know your limits. This may seem contrary to the previous statement. But the main point here is to realize that in the end, you can only do your best every day and no more. It is pointless and counterproductive to stress over what you could not accomplish in a given day. You also have to take into account other factors. You may get randomized or you may be mentally or physically exhausted which can affect your performance. It is important to recognize these factors and not get stressed over it.
• Compartmentalize your time. You need hours of interrupted time to be productive. Compartmentalize this time and do not answer IMs or email and just focus on your work. Unless you have this time set apart, you will stress over the fact that you could not be productive in your own work. In most cases, it is better to come into work early and block off some time to yourself.
• Prioritize your life over work. Make sure you get plenty of rest. Do the things in life that make you happy and do not let work consume your life. Recognize that your worth. If you are happy in life, you will be more creative and productive at work.

Interestingly enough, my mentor did not give any specifics on how to lead a team. I will make followup posts as I learn more about being a development lead. For reference, I previously made a post where I compiled advice on being a senior developer: http://thatdev.net/2010/09/13/senior-engineer-and-beyond/.