Lessons I learned as a project lead

I never realized that being a project lead would bee this difficult or this rewarding.

During the final weeks at DevMountain, they give you one more project to do, but this one is to be done as a group. We got to pick what we wanted to build, but it must be done as a group. Passing the project is essentially defined as building some product while working together WELL.

And that was where it was hard. I was selected by my group to be the project lead early on, and I am glad that I was. I tend to be more of a moderator (a gift from being the middle child in my family) and that was put to the test almost immediately.

The first two days were almost pure argument between all my team. I ended up having to act as moderator, parent, and a calm final say in so many respects. This honestly was the hardest part. I my stress levels were so high I was getting a stomach ulcer, and had a hard time sleeping. To get through this time I turned to taking small breaks to reduce my stress and confiding in my wife. During these breaks I would take a walk and sing, I would meditate and pray, or I would take a 5 minute rest. These were huge in reducing my stress and helping me maintain my cool with the team.

Finally the storm passed. We came to a detailed consensus on the form, purpose, and functionality of the web app. Then came the task for me to plan out our goals and tasks. I took into consideration the strengths of each member of our team assigned tasks accordingly. Most everyone has been pleased with their assignments. I set up a timeline with wiggle-room and set goals accordingly. I found this to be a fun optimization problem, and things are going well.

We are currently halfway through our project. We have hit almost all our goals thus far, and we are on track for completion. There have still been occasional storms and people not working well together, but I have been able to help these clear while we still make progress.

The biggest takeaway I have gained from this is that you should never rule out something as a possible career path until you have tried it. Before this, I would never have considered management in any capacity as working with people intimidated me. But now, I find that I enjoy it, and the difficulties that are a part of it are possible to overcome. Now a whole other career branch is open to me, and I am grateful for more options.