The squads, tribes, chapters, and guilds model popularized by Spotify. Source
That role had two main components:
Backend technical leadership (TL), driven by best practices and with a strong emphasis on continuous improvement. At the time, mytaxi was experiencing major traffic growth. Some services — for example, the one used to incentivize drivers to complete more rides — experienced significant traffic spikes and required improvements, re-architecting, and similar work. On top of that, there were a bit over 200 services to manage.
(TL), driven by best practices and with a strong emphasis on continuous improvement. At the time, mytaxi was experiencing major traffic growth. Some services — for example, the one used to incentivize drivers to complete more rides — experienced significant traffic spikes and required improvements, re-architecting, and similar work. On top of that, there were a bit over 200 services to manage. People management in a horizontal setup. The idea was that all backend engineers would report to either Ariel, the other Chapter Lead, or me, regardless of their team. This was not a very orthodox setup, but at the time, around 3–5 backend engineers were joining every month. There was a strong need to make people productive as quickly as possible, align on architecture, and keep the product moving.
I came in with no prior formal experience as a Tech Lead. I think I never read as much in my life as during the month between announcing I was leaving my previous job and joining mytaxi. Not only that. I had never really had a proper Tech Lead to learn from. What could go wrong?
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