DEV Community: Gábor Till

Want to be a tech lead, but don’t know how to get started?

Gábor Till — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:57:15 +0000

I moved from developer to team lead and ran into chaos: missed deadlines, team conflict, and endless overtime. Jumping into a leadership role without experience backfired, and I made a bunch of mistakes.

The truth is, those mistakes could have been avoided if I’d built a few leadership skills first – and you can do the same. There are three simple things any developer can try now to gain real leadership experience before getting the title.

If you’re interested in what those steps are, read the short article I wrote on my newly revamped site.

👉 https://www.gabortill.com/posts/i-want-to-be-a-leader

The Developer’s Handbook: Thriving When Promotions Don’t Exist

Gábor Till — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:37:28 +0000

Ever felt stuck because your org doesn’t have a traditional ladder?

I just published a concise guide that shows you how to own your growth without waiting for a new title. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find:

Define your own “growth” – skill, impact, and visibility goals.
Quarterly roadmaps – pick a focus, set a success metric, iterate.
Mentor hunting – peer, cross‑team, or reverse mentors.
Showcase wins – weekly updates, monthly demos, internal blogs.
Stretch assignments – treat them like mini‑promotions.
Reflect & iterate – monthly reviews, quarterly reflections, leader check‑ins.

👉 Read the full article here: https://techleadmastery.substack.com/p/developers-handbook-thriving-without-promotions

Clean code = Happy teams! But how?

Gábor Till — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:58:20 +0000

Tech debt creeps in when we ship fast without looking ahead. However, this often results in slower development cycles, endless bug fixes, and frustrated teammates.

Here is how to start today:

Tag every debt item in the backlog with a label and log its impact.
Reserve 10‑20% of each sprint for debt tickets—treat them like any feature story.
Add quality gates in CI (lint, complexity, coverage) so bad code can’t slip through.

Want the full playbook—real‑world examples, step‑by‑step checklists, and metrics to prove the impact? Check out the article on techleadmastery.substack.com/p/tech-debt-management

95% of AI Pilots Crash – Engineers are paying the price

Gábor Till — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 08:24:50 +0000

A fresh MIT study just uncovered a shocking truth: $35‑40 B spent on AI pilots, and 9‑out‑of‑10 deliver zero ROI.

Why do so many experiments stall?

Scope creep – trying to solve everything at once dilutes impact.
In‑house models – custom builds eat time, talent, and budget.
Wrong targets – low‑value, high‑visibility tasks rarely pay off.

The winning formula is to pick one narrow problem, grab a battle‑tested off‑the‑shelf tool, and set a clear KPI. Teams that did this turned no revenue into $20 M in a year.

Check the AI Disaster Report article, a practical checklist, and a ready-to-copy email template to help you avoid common pitfalls in your next AI experiment.

https://techleadmastery.substack.com/p/ai-disaster-report-95-percent-pilots-fail-checklist

How to organize an effective, 30-min retro as a dev

Gábor Till — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:40:39 +0000

Ever walked out of a retro feeling like nothing changed? 🙋‍♂️ I had the same conversation with a lead dev—great ideas, but no follow‑up.

The trick? A 30‑minute retro that ends with just one or two clear actions and an owner for each.

Warm‑up & goal reminder
Quick check‑in on past actions
Silent brainstorm
Voting on top pain points
Define the next steps and lock them in

Check out the detailed flow in my article 👇
techleadmastery.substack.com/p/sprint-retro-flow-boost-velocity