A developer from another team stopped by my office today. He was wondering what I thought about some problems on his team. There are a bunch of people in the inner circle. The rest of the people don't get much work to do. The visitor is outside the circle.I told him he needed to think like his team leader. The leader has a lot of pressure to deliver. He is a busy guy. He will give the work to the developers that he can trust to get the job done without using much of his time. This is just practical.
How can you become a trusted member of your team. Learn the technical skills needed for the job. More importantly, learn the business domain of your customer. These two will make you invaluable to the team.
A good leader coaches the members of the team. Good leaders are hard to find. Sometimes the team members themselves need to do a little self management. Then they can prosper in the software development cycle.
