Your lead is going on parental leave, or a long medical break, or a secondment to another part of the company. Before they go, they ask whether you would cover. Approvals, the one to ones, the planning meeting, a seat in the managers' weekly call. Three months, maybe four.
Say yes if you can. Few opportunities show you a job this clearly before you have to choose it. But agree the shape before their last day, because a vague cover arrangement is where good people get hurt.
Ask three questions while your manager is still in the building. What can I decide on my own, and what has to wait or go to your manager? Who do I go to when I am not sure? And what happens to my own work, because carrying two jobs at full weight for three months is not a stretch, it is a burnout plan. Get the answers written down and shared with the team and with your manager's manager, so nobody has to wonder whose word counts.
Then think of yourself as a steward, not a reformer. The team needs steadiness more than new ideas. Keep the meetings running, unblock people, protect them from surprises. If you see something that needs changing, write it down and raise it when your manager returns, unless leaving it would genuinely hurt someone.
Keep a short decision log. The date, what you decided, and why. It protects you if anything is questioned later, it makes the handover easy, and it quietly becomes evidence of judgement that is very hard to collect any other way.
Notice what you enjoy and what drains you. Some people discover they love the conversations and the unblocking. Others find that three months without building anything is miserable. Both discoveries are valuable, and far cheaper to make now than after a permanent move.
When your manager comes back, hand the role back cleanly and generously. A written summary, a walk through the open issues, no sense of territory.
Then ask for one more conversation a few weeks later. What did you see in how I covered, and what would it take for me to do this for real? Covering is one of the rare times your next role is demonstrated rather than described. Make sure somebody says out loud what was demonstrated.
– Asael Shinder
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