The Tech Lead and the Engineering Manager · AI Developer: the course

All courses / AI Developer / Module 3 / Chapter 15

Learning objectives

After the lesson the participant can:

Explain what the tech lead holds and what the engineering manager holds, and the typical failure of each arrangement
Design a metrics list in which every measure is paired, dated and held at team level
Apply the six-part record to a headcount claim
Draft a team working agreement with review rules, protected files and a weekly rhythm

Key concepts

What stays with the tech lead: Four things no tool holds: the intent that precedes generation, the rules under which generated code enters the codebase, the picture of the system that makes the Understand test passable, and the stop. The lead may narrow a ceiling; raising one goes to the profile's owner.
Paired measures: Measures chosen so that no single one can be read alone: lead time with change fail rate, review wait time with a second reviewer re-reading five merged changes. They are held at team level, in groups of five or more, with per-person views switched off.
The figure that must not reach the board: The share of AI-assisted lines or the acceptance rate presented as productivity, as capacity or as the case for fewer developers. What may reach the board is a claim with scope, method, date, result and expiry.
Headcount record: Six parts: the claim as asserted, the scope, the measure and method with an evidence owner independent of the sponsor, the date and expiry, the alternatives for the capacity, and the decision owner with the next look.
Team working agreement: A short, versioned file in ten parts stating how a team works with AI and who is responsible for what. It narrows a delegation profile and never raises one, protects the files that govern the agents, and is reviewed on a date and on triggers.

Interactive exercises

Do them here and get feedback at once. Choose a card and then where it belongs, or drag it.

Interactive exercise 1 · Sort

Tech lead or engineering manager

Sort each responsibility by who holds it in the chapter's table of the two jobs.

Interactive exercise 2 · Scenario

Can we cut the consultants by a third

Apply the six-part record on which the chapter holds a headcount conversation.

Teaching plan

15 min	Lecture on the two jobs and the table of who holds which question; participants mark where one person holds both in their own organisation.
15 min	Group work: for each measure a team reports upward, name how it misleads and what to pair it with.
15 min	Role play of a headcount conversation at Nordvik Region: the executive committee asks whether consultant volume can be cut by a third; the lead and manager answer on the six-part record.
30 min	Exercise: groups write a team working agreement and put its rhythm into a week.
15 min	Groups test each review rule against their last incident, and name the files in their protected set.

Discussion

Where one person both approves a developer's code and holds the conversation about that developer's year, how should review and appraisal be kept apart?
The practical guide says to establish what the team uses by asking, not by tooling that detects individuals. What do you gain and lose by asking?
Onboarding is measured by the first change a new colleague can explain and has owned through production, not by time to first merge. How would that change your onboarding?

Written exercise

Exercise · 30 minutes

A team working agreement and weekly rhythm

Write a working agreement for a team you know, or for the claims core delivery team in Hamburg at Hansa Mutual. Put the inherited ceilings at the top and any narrower ones the team sets. Write the scope and ownership clause with a deputy for every owner. Write the review rules, including that an AI review comment never counts as an approval, and the oracle clause. List the protected set of files agents may not edit. Write the data clause, the metrics list with level, pair, expiry and non-use in appraisal, and the weekly rhythm in hours. State who may lower a ceiling, the review date and the triggers.

Deliverable: A working agreement with ceilings, ownership, review rules, oracle clause, protected set, data clause, paired metrics, weekly rhythm and review triggers.

Your work

Self-test

Choose an answer to see whether it is right, or open the answer below each question.

According to the chapter's table of responsibilities, who takes a proposal to raise a ceiling to the owner of the delegation profile?
Show the answer
D. The engineering manager, after the tech lead proposes it with evidence
The lead may narrow a ceiling and records it; for raising one the lead proposes with evidence and the engineering manager takes it to the owner of the delegation profile.
What does the Wednesday block in the worked weekly rhythm of the Hamburg team produce?
Show the answer
B. A second reviewer re-reads five merged AI-involved changes and logs what the first missed
Wednesday's 45 minutes is the sample of AI-involved changes. The framing check is on Monday, the ownership and stop check on Friday, and the claim record belongs to the quarterly agreement review.
In a headcount record, what does the chapter require of the evidence owner?
Show the answer
A. Independence from the sponsor of the claim
The third part of the record is the measure and the method: what was measured, how and by whom, with an evidence owner who is independent of the sponsor of the claim.