How Poor Delegation Affects Both the Tech Lead and the Team

Delegation is one of the toughest transitions for new tech leads. Without proper delegation, the challenges extend beyond just the lead—poor delegation has a significant impact on both the tech lead and the team. Drawing from the key struggles discussed earlier, let’s explore how poor delegation creates issues that affect the entire team.

1. Burnout for the Tech Lead 

One of the main issues with poor delegation is that the tech lead ends up doing too much. When new tech leads hold onto tasks they should be delegating, they find themselves performing both their old role as an individual contributor and their new responsibilities as a leader.

This overload leads to stress and, eventually, burnout. As they try to manage coding, task execution, meetings, and decision-making simultaneously, tech leads have less time to focus on high-level responsibilities such as supporting the team and aligning with stakeholders. The result? A tech lead who is constantly overwhelmed, stressed, and unable to perform at their best.

2. Tech Lead Feels Stuck in Their Old Role 

When a tech lead doesn’t delegate enough, they essentially continue to perform their old job while taking on new responsibilities. This inability to transition fully into a leadership role can make them feel stuck. They are still writing code and managing their individual workload while also trying to lead the team, attend planning meetings, and report to other stakeholders.

3. Missed Growth Opportunities for the Team 

Tech leads struggle to let go of tasks, often because they believe they can do it better or faster themselves. This has a major downside for the team: when a tech lead holds onto complex or important tasks, they prevent their team members from stepping up and taking on new challenges.

Without the opportunity to handle these tasks, team members can’t grow or develop new skills. They stay in their comfort zones, continually working on less complex stories, while the tech lead shoulders the heavy lifting. Over time, this stagnation lowers morale, making team members feel undervalued or untrusted.

4. Micromanagement Leads to Frustration  

Micromanagement is another common outcome of poor delegation. Tech leads who struggle with letting go often try to oversee every detail of the task, providing step-by-step instructions and checking in too frequently. While this may come from a place of concern over the quality of work, it can have negative effects on the team.

Frequent check-ins and corrections can demoralize team members, making them feel like they are not trusted to execute tasks independently. This type of micromanagement can frustrate both the tech lead and the team. The lead gets stuck in the weeds instead of focusing on leadership tasks, while team members feel like they’re being held back and unable to work freely.

5. Poor Quality Work Due to Lack of Clarity 

New tech leads often struggle to provide enough context when delegating tasks. They might hand off a task with minimal explanation or unclear expectations, assuming the team will automatically understand how to approach it. However, without the necessary context and details, team members may not know what “good” looks like or how to deliver the quality that the tech lead expects.

When this happens, the final product often misses the mark. The tech lead may find themselves disappointed with the result and feel the need to step in and “fix” it, which leads to frustration on both sides. The team member feels they’ve done their best, while the tech lead is left feeling they can’t rely on their team to meet standards.

6. Erosion of Trust and motivation 

When poor delegation happens repeatedly, it affects trust within the team. If a tech lead avoids delegating critical tasks or constantly checks in, the team will start to feel undervalued and underutilized.

At the same time, the tech lead’s trust in the team diminishes when they see that tasks aren’t being done the way they would have done them. This creates a cycle where the tech lead feels forced to do everything themselves, and the team feels less and less motivated to step up and take ownership. In the long run, this lack of trust can weaken collaboration, as team members wait for instructions rather than take initiative.

7. Loss of confidence for the Tech Lead 

When poor delegation happens often, the tech lead may even start to doubt their ability to succeed in their new role. They may feel like they are failing at being a tech lead because they haven’t created the space to perform true leadership tasks. This lack of delegation not only hinders their personal growth but also undermines their confidence in leading the team.

Conclusion: Poor Delegation Hurts Both the Tech Lead and the Team 

Poor delegation has wide-reaching effects. The tech lead ends up overworked and stressed, unable to fully step into their leadership role, while the team misses out on growth opportunities and becomes demotivated. Trust erodes, and the collaboration necessary for a high-performing team starts to break down.

In our next post, we will share tips on how to do it well.