Tech lead readiness checklist
Not a personality test. Either the foundations exist or they don't.
We have a written definition of done, and people use it.
Pull requests are reviewed by someone other than the author, most of the time.
At least two people can release.
We can name who owns deploy, CI, and 'production is down'.
CI runs on pull requests and we would notice if it went red.
A new person could ship a small change in week one without a two-day download from the lead.
Work in progress is visible to the team, not trapped in private branches and DMs.
The tech lead is the bottleneck for review, release, or decisions.
We have killed or simplified a rule in the last quarter - or looked and nothing deserved to die.
When production misbehaves, we have a default path that isn't 'message the lead and hope'.
0 / 10
This is the usual mess of a team that grew faster than its habits. Start with done, review, and CI.
- Write a Definition of Done. Use the free generator - do not start with a 30-page wiki.
- Make review the default on anything hard to undo. A template beats a speech.
- CI on pull requests is the first automation, not the fifth.
The Tech Lead Starter Kit turns that list into a playbook and files you can install. £79 beta