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0285c131-5140-4f78-8359-55c7fca34d2b

Secret Ingredients to Quality Software | SSW Rules provides best practices for developing secure, reliable, and efficient .NET, Azure, CRM, Angular, React, Dynamics, and AI applications. Learn more today!

https://www.ssw.com.au/rules/servant-leadership

[danielmackay]

One way to help developers to grow is to involve them in the decision making process (e.g. documenting via an ADR). This will help them to practice critical thinking, and they may have ideas or viewpoints you haven't considered. It will also help them to understand the multitude of ways in which a problem can sometimes be solved.

[joshbermanssw]

I agree with this 100%, even if none of the ideas that the junior comes up with never make it to production. The feeling of inclusion is a great motivator and makes all members of a team feel important. Also being involved in the conversation again and again helps build the skills required to be making and cultivating decisions down the road.

[miichaelsmedley]

A great team is nurturing, and a great leader creates the space and confidence for people to be creative—while teaching and guiding them along the way. Feedback should be delivered with subtlety and compassion, so it doesn’t come across as a personal attack or trigger defensiveness. That’s how teams grow and develop, which is why this rule is a strong one.

[stephanfakossw]

I think it's important to allow people to make mistakes, then review their work, give constructive feedback, and then repeat. It takes time but it builds relations and helps juniors to transitions to senior roles.

[PennyWalker]

Completely agree, I always learn a lot more from my mistakes than I do from something I get right the first time! Having the space to make mistakes and learning from them is a critical part of growing.

[ricksu978]

This is why AI is so strong with reinforcement learning, it can fail a million times quickly and learn from every failure.

Smart engineers should do the same: fail fast, learn faster, and create a safe space for feedback so people level up without fear.

[ClaraFang-SSW]

I especially love the process of trying first, receiving feedback, and then adjusting my work. It builds a lot of trust and makes me want to contribute even more to the team.

[TobyChurches]

I have always found that the attitude of working 'with' the tech lead is much more constructive then working for them. When they involve everyone in the high leveling thinking, it helps to shift perspective and grow as a engineer.

[SamBWagner]

100% Agree with this. I've found any "leader" who dictates law is usually the one who forms the highest amount of disfunction. And, those who just "follow" are equally culpable in this disfunction.

[Calinator444]

I think juniors a good tip for improving juniors is to involve them in designing technical solutions. That could be finding a solution to a particular technical problem, or being involved in the decision making process for the project's architecture.

[uly1]

But... but... my ego! I want to be the super important single point of failure in all things! Don't take that from me! 🤣

[bahjatalaadelssw]

Yeah, it's time for that long service leave...

[suiyangqiu]

I have always found that I take a lot away from times where I'm able to work "with" more senior engineers than feel like I'm working "for" them. Being involved in the decision making process, discussing and bouncing ideas off how to proceed, instead of just being told what I need to do and how I need to do it.

[bahjatalaadelssw]

It's taken a long time the title "servant leader" to become mainstream. A true leader understands that they work for their skill base, because it's the talent and effort that gets the job done. He's a video of Gary Vee explaining it in 30 sec.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuHMzLCOes1/

[Username-must-be-unique]

love Gary Vee

[0xharkirat]

What I’ve learned is that even when people say “all questions are welcome,” it’s still important to do my own due diligence before asking.

[SamBWagner]

100% And, the line we draw in the sand that denotes that "Due diligence" is just that. An arbitrary line in the sane. You ought be constantly inspecting how long you spend doing your own learning. It'll change all the time as you get better, your team changes, your project changes, etc.

Excellent point to bring up!

[marinagerber]

Emotional intelligence is often overlooked when talking about team leads. The ability to understand your team and how to get the best out of every skill set in that team - is a soft skill that is critical

[isaaclombardssw]

From the video, I think the letting juniors (or people less confident) give an opinion first in discussions is a great strategy.

Really gets everyone thinking and learning.

[griffenedge]

A good leader is part of the team, not in control of it. As the person with more experience or project knowledge, they should seek to share and lift the rest of the team.

[thomas-sepanosian]

I've learned the most through struggle. Therefore, while I think it’s important to nudge people in the right direction, it is equally important to give them the space to figure things out for themselves.

[Ben0189]

How seniors can better coach and mentor junior and mid-level developers

Senior - Dedicate one hour each week for team knowledge sharing (can be project knowledge sharing, new technology update, or open Q&A sessions)

Junior - Stay curious and proactive in learning. Sometimes confidence is good, but humility will accelerates the growth

[chrisschultzssw]

It's important to find the right balance between guiding the team and letting them go on their own - you don't want them to feel lost, but you don't want to just give them the answers.

[kulesy]

Be more positive and open to helping engineers; they should feel like they can go to you anytime they have questions, instead of feeling like they are annoying you.

[edkranz]

The concept of servant leadership is a great idea! I think there should also be some focus on ensuring the juniors/mid-levels are asking questions + managing their senior. We need both sides actively encouraging a dialog.

[vladislav-kir]

A great way for the seniors to mentor juniors is to make them explain their reasoning about their changes. That makes them to think deeper and allows them to practice decision making.

[SamBWagner]

100000% "Why did you do this?" or "I don't really understand this code. Could you explain it to me?" are fantastic tools in the tool belt when you're trying to help people get better. Or, at least I've found that.

[18-th]

I find pair programming to be very effective to help devs grow. Our raw skillset changes constantly with new frameworks and technologies coming out. General approaches, critical and system design thinking on the other hand stays applicable no matter what we do. Coding/planning together allows us to impart some of that knowledge onto others.

[SamBWagner]

Couldn't agree more with your point!

One interesting behaviour I've noticed is that Pair programming, with the advent of AI seems to have become less popular.

I think there is some deep-seated insecurities in the development community which are lurking at present. 🤔

[sam-s-maher]

It feels like SSW get's this - discussion isn't only encouraged, it's required. This has many benefits not only for productivity, but also individual growth.

[KostaMadorsky]

Building a positive and friendly atmosphere in the team is crucial for productive and efficient functioning of its members.
Having clear team objectives and aligning personal objective with them (what do I need to do so my team succeeds) helps a lot with hitting the goals on time.

[RobJT-wq]

I've definitely felt that the best managers have been the least technical as their strongest quality is to facilitate the team.

When a manager is too technical they tend to get caught up in trying to fix complex technical problems without resolving the underlying issues the team faces e.g. missing skill sets, sub-optimal applications/tools/technology or frequent context switching (Too many meetings).

[jernejk]

Supporting your team is great way to upskill your team and the team will be thankful for that.

Experience with stakeholders is a bit mixed, not everyone appreciates reduced work done on the main person for sake of better overall Sprints.

[jeoffreyfischer]

Servant leader seems very similar to a Scrum Master role, where the most important task is to ensure the team works well by removing impediments, improving communication and protecting the team in any situation.

[Username-must-be-unique]

Great article! the principles of servant leadership are really powerful. One practical note from experience: a lot of organisations still confuse power with leadership.

Servant leadership works best when decision rights are clearly defined and delegated, otherwise it can unintentionally become a nice-sounding philosophy without real impact.

In environments where there's "a man in power" (or any single role) that must approve everything, it becomes difficult for leaders and teams to take ownership.

To make servant leadership real, an organisation needs explicit decision boundaries, empowered roles, and accountability that matches authority. When those are in place, servant leadership becomes a sustainable way to scale delivery while keeping teams motivated and effective.

[ZhangRan8]

I really like this rule! As a junior developer, I’m always thinking about how to learn more effectively, and with the help of AI the learning curve feels much less steep. However, I’m also aware that I don’t yet have enough experience to always judge whether a solution is the best one. This is where servant leadership really resonates with me — having a safe space to propose my preferred solution first, explain my thinking, and then receive guidance from a senior helps me learn far more than being told exactly what to do. That balance between autonomy and support is what allows juniors to grow while still delivering quality outcomes as a team.

[jimmidier]

Mid-level developers should be given chance when possible to do deep thinking and decision making as their senior lead normally does. Do what the lead says usually defeats the purpose of helping them grow

[ZenoWang1999]

I think what juniors typically lack is the assessment of long term issues and overall architecture, and seniors can share their experience in these areas.

[thom-wang]

One thing I really like to promote is to always do "pair code review" with your team members.
Juniors can really learn a lot from code review and when we're facing real tech/structure problems, seniors can help a lot better.

[yaqi-lyu]

I really like this rule. Trying things out first and then getting reviewed is the fastest way for me to learn, and servant leadership gives me the space to do that.

[babakamyljanovssw]

Great rule! I think seniors can make themselves approachable for questions and explain their reasoning behind decisions, not just give solutions for problems and let juniors struggle through problems while staying available to help when they are blocked.